Curious Cook: Covid-19, contact budgets and variolation

In England, chefs diagnosed with Covid-19 showed higher number of deaths (deaths were calculated based on profession). — AFP Relaxnews

I was surprised to encounter a suggestion from an epidemiologist about establishing what she called a contact budget for Covid-19. On the surface, it may seem feasible that one can calculate some sort of “risks” for various activities so that people can monitor their exposure to the coronavirus during some set period; e.g., a week. The basic idea is that if people do not consistently cross some self-defined contact threshold, then one would be safe (or at least safer) from catching the disease.

With this suggestion, there are four metrics to keep in mind when deciding the required threshold. The first is how much risk one can tolerate. So if a household member has some medical condition, then the required risk level should be lower.