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CDC shortens recommended isolation time for people with Covid-19 or who were exposed to somebody with Covid-19
By adamg on Mon, 12/27/2021 - 5:05pm
The CDC announced today that it now recommends that people who have tested positive for Covid-19 but who are not showing symptoms isolate for just five days instead of ten - but that they should wear a mask for five days after isolation when around other people.
The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for 5 days to minimize the risk of infecting others.
Additionally, CDC is updating the recommended quarantine period for those exposed to COVID-19. For people who are unvaccinated or are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose (or more than 2 months after the J&J vaccine) and not yet boosted, CDC now recommends quarantine for 5 days followed by strict mask use for an additional 5 days. Alternatively, if a 5-day quarantine is not feasible, it is imperative that an exposed person wear a well-fitting mask at all times when around others for 10 days after exposure. Individuals who have received their booster shot do not need to quarantine following an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure. For all those exposed, best practice would also include a test for SARS-CoV-2 at day 5 after exposure. If symptoms occur, individuals should immediately quarantine until a negative test confirms symptoms are not attributable to COVID-19.
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Comments
But
But doesn't DPH need to take this recommendation and modify the Massachusetts guidelines and roll that out to the local health boards before this starts to matter here? I would expect them to do so, but it's not an instantaneous change.
It took them two years to
It took them two years to figure out that 10 days is overkill?
Ahh, no. It was originally 14
Ahh, no. It was originally 14 days quarantine after showing symptoms. Then, because people weren't following the guidance, the CDC revised it to 10 days (around this time last year). So, yeah, we changed the rules simply because so many people weren't willing to follow CDC guidance.
The primary reason for reducing it this time around seems to be that healthcare are BADLY needed right now--and they're also fully vaxxed. So rather than create two standards for healthcare workers & everyone else, the CDC dropped it for everyone. Note that the 5 day rule is ONLY for asymptomatic people and still requires mask wearing for the next 5 days.
I don't think you have it completely right
and I don't actually want to pick apart what you've said but you are clearly mixing up quarantine and isolation, as if you are showing symptoms you would be presumed to be positive and be isolating at that point, not quarantining.
And when they got into the whole 10 day (or 8 with a negative test and never having any symptoms between days 5-7, my stay under quarantine was under those rules about 11 months ago), you still needed to keep an eye out for any symptoms appearing through day 14.
If you've got references that show that any of these CDC guidelines that have been revised over time were revised due to prior noncompliance, rather than revised in light of ongoing scientific data collection and analysis, I'd gladly take a look at it. But until then, I'm going to believe that these guidelines have changed over time as we've learned more about how a disease spreads that two years ago was still "mystery respiratory illness filling up hospitals in a region of China"
Half-right
You're correct that "we've learned more about how [SARS-CoV-2] disease spreads". Most studies on previous variants like wild-type and Delta support that ~50% of people are no longer infectious after 5-7 days (meaning that many are infectious longer, in some cases up to 20 days).
If you start following some MDs, PhDs, and MPHs on platforms like Twitter, you'll see that the overwhelming scientific community consensus is that this is a disastrously reckless decision made against what's good for public health and essentially in response to requests from the Delta Airlines CEO.
https://whdh.com/news/us-move-to-shorten-covid-19-isolation-stirs-confus...
The actual reason for shortening to 5 days
appears to be that Delta Airlines asked the CDC to shorten it to 5 days because they need to keep making money and need workers to make money, and then the CDC did it. It's not a decision based on public health, it's a decision made on workforce impact. Capitalism simply needs its grist for the mill.
https://twitter.com/Tori_Bedford/status/1475853206223790081
Can two things be true?
I'm no investigative journalist, but the CDC is a public agency and subject to public records laws...
CDC shortens isolation time
CDC shortens isolation time to “what ever your boss wants”
Yup
Public health: "Isolation and precaution are important"
The airlines: "We're losing money because too many of our staff are sick"
CDC: "Everybody back to work"
Yup. This is irresponsible to
Yup. This is irresponsible to not require even a negative test. Some people don’t even test negative on rapid tests until day 6 or 7. Must be their solution to shortage of tests
Telling people to wear a mask
Telling people to wear a mask is not effective, since some people won't do it consistently or properly, and there's no way to make sure.
At least with quarantine or isolation, there's the possibility of a public health official making sure the person is at home.
Because omicron so infectious
Because omicron so infectious many front line workers are succumbing. My frontline position down 4 workers( these are the people who did not flma ) today. This is not about health, its to keep the system from collapsing so you can all Still go to Disney.