According to a statement Thursday, the agency’s new guidelines state that health care workers with COVID-19 can return to work after seven days if they are asymptomatic and test negative, and “if There is a shortage of staff”. The time of isolation can be cut even further.”
The agency also specified that health care workers do not need to be quarantined “after high-risk exposure” if they have received all recommended vaccinations, including a booster shot. Quarantine means when people who have been exposed to the virus but have not yet been diagnosed with the infection need to avoid others.
The CDC stressed that the new guidelines are not for the general public and apply only to health care workers.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America said they “greatly appreciate the CDC updating its guidance so rapidly,” adding that these “approaches are critical to ensuring that we have the right resources to respond to the growing omicron boom.” There are tools for that.” The essential health care workforce is out there. ,
CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Lena Wen called the CDC’s decision to update its guidance “the right move” so that hospitals don’t over capacity from staff shortages due to isolation guidelines.
“Even if you miss a few individuals who may still be contagious, if you are able to follow many more people for a short period rather than encourage such a long isolation period , then it might even be worth the tradeoff,” Wayne, Baltimore City’s former health commissioner, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, also argues that fully vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19, if they test negative in less than that time. They are more likely to be vaccinated. Do not isolate for a full 10 days.
Jha called for a study to determine the exact time period for isolation with negative rapid test results, suggesting an isolation window of five to seven days.
“It’s really important to get people out of isolation to give people incentives to test so they don’t have to isolate for 10 days,” Jha said on CNN on Thursday. The new guidelines for health care workers are “a step in the right direction”.
The CDC said in its statement Thursday that it “continues to evaluate isolation and quarantine recommendations for the broader population as we learn of the Omron version and will update the public as appropriate.”
“We anticipate that we will have some updates soon,” she said.
However, President Joe Biden said on Friday that there are no plans yet to reduce the period of isolation for everyone after testing positive for COVID-19.
“Well, I just listen to my team, the docs, and they think we should keep it that way,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
CNN’s Jacqueline Howard, Pete Muntian and Donald Judd contributed to this report.
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