Sweeping new Covid-19 isolation and quarantine guidelines were spurred by scientific research and what Americans would likely tolerate, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
MIAMI (CBSMiami/CNN) — Sweeping new Covid-19 isolation and quarantine guidelines were spurred by scientific research and what Americans would likely tolerate, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. They come as doctors expect the holiday coronavirus surge, driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, to get worse following New Year’s Eve. The average number of daily US Covid-19 cases on Tuesday reached 265,427 — a new pandemic high, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In guidance issued this week, the CDC said: • Anyone who tests positive for Covid-19, regardless of vaccination status, can stop isolating after five days if they don’t have symptoms or if their “symptoms are resolving” — as long as they also wear a mask around others for the next five days. (Previously, the CDC recommended anyone with Covid-19 isolate for 10 days.) • Recently fully vaccinated or boosted people who were exposed to someone with Covid-19 don’t need to quarantine, as long as they don’t get symptoms. (But they should wear a mask around others for 10 days and try to get tested five days after exposure.) • Unvaccinated people and those who got shots some time ago and were exposed to someone with Covid-19 need to quarantine for five days after exposure. This covers people who got their last dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine more than six months ago and haven’t been boosted; or got just one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine more than two months ago and haven’t been boosted. (Everyone in this category, too, should try to get tested five days after exposure and wear a mask around others for the next five days.) Many have asked why the CDC reduced isolation times for some people with Covid-19 — but didn’t recommend taking a test to confirm whether they were still infected. PCR and antigen tests aren’t always good indicators of whether someone is still contagious, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told news outlets Wednesday. “What we do know is that the PCR test after infection can be positive for up to 12 weeks, so that is not going to be helpful. You’re not going to be transmitting during all of that period of time,” Walensky told NBC. “So then the question is, well why not do an antigen test at five days? We do know some people at five days will be negative and still be able to transmit. We also know that some people will be positive and still be able to transmit,” she said. “So that antigen test was actually not authorized for this purpose, and its information will not be useful. Regardless of what the antigen test said, we would say you still need to wear your mask for five days.” Why shorten isolation times? New research, combined with some people’s reluctance to isolate for 10 days if infected, spurred some of the latest guidance, Walensky told CNN Wednesday. “We know that the most amount of transmission occurs in those one to two days before you develop symptoms (to) those two to three days after you develop symptoms,” she said.
