The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering relaxing its recommendations on how long people should quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus. This reflects changing attitudes and norms as the pandemic recedes.
Under the proposed guidelines, Americans would no longer be advised to quarantine for five days before returning to work or school. Instead, you can return to your daily routine if you have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without medication, the same criteria that apply to influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.
This proposal aligns with CDC's advice and revised quarantine recommendations from Oregon and California. The change was previously reported by the Washington Post, but is still being considered, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
The CDC last changed its quarantine policy in late 2021, when it shortened the recommended period from 10 days to 5 days. If this new approach is adopted, it will signal that Covid has taken its place alongside other routine respiratory infections.
But by focusing on quarantine policies for COVID-19, for example, the agency is wasting an opportunity to foster better public health policies, several experts said.
Senior Director of Special Pathogens Program at NYC Health and Hospitals, Dr. “I think from a long-term public health perspective, this sets a really unfortunate precedent,” Syra Madad said.
She said the CDC should “seize the opportunity to truly transform how we respond to deadly infectious diseases and pandemics and advocate for guaranteed paid sick and family leave nationwide rather than giving in to the easier option of eliminating quarantine periods.” urged.
Some researchers are concerned that Americans will interpret the new advice to mean that COVID-19 is no longer a threat. At its peak this winter, Covid was killing around 1,500 people a day. Among adults over 65 years of age, deaths from COVID-19 were two to four times more common than deaths from the flu.
“There are still a lot of people in the U.S. getting sick with COVID and dying from COVID,” said Dr. Boguma Titanji, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University in Atlanta.
“When we make recommendations about public health, we shouldn’t base them on what people are already doing,” she said. Instead, she added, advice should be based on evidence.
Dr. Titanji added that even people with only mild illness can develop long-term COVID-19, and there is still no cure for this.
The proposed recommendations also don't seem to take into account older Americans or people who are immunocompromised or at risk for serious outcomes from COVID, said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at Brown University's School of Public Health.
Dr. Nuzzo said he had an aunt with cancer who contracted COVID twice in a health care facility. “I really feel for people who feel much less protected now,” she said.
At a minimum, the CDC should advise people who have ended quarantine after a fever-free day to also wear an N95 mask or equivalent when leaving the house, she added.
Let's not pretend one day that you're not contagious all of a sudden, Dr. Nuzzo said. “We have to be very clear and transparent about this. We have to say we still think there is a risk.”
Masking remains a controversial issue in the United States. But many people avoid masks for fear of attracting attention or invective, said Dr. Jay Varma, chief medical officer of Siga Technologies and former New York City deputy health officer.
Over time, sick people wearing masks could become the norm, much like wearing condoms to prevent HIV infection or helmets to prevent head injuries, he said.
He added, “There are currently strong groups opposing mask wearing, but this will not be resolved over time.” “People change, people die, children become adults.”
CDC officials declined to discuss the proposed changes. “We will continue to make decisions based on the best evidence and science to keep our communities healthy and safe,” the agency said in a statement.