With the new Omicron version of the coronavirus spreading to parts of the world, scientists are weighing how long a patient should remain in quarantine. Earlier this month, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) backed its week-old guidance for people seeking to end their COVID-19 isolation in five days, it said. So that if they want they can do rapid antigen test. Reach one, but it’s not required. In keeping with the advice of the US CDC, the United Kingdom also shortened its isolation period for COVID-19 by five days after testing positive.
However, a study by Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases published on January 5 found that patients with the Omicron version of COVID-19 shed the virus longer after symptoms emerged. The study noted that the amount of viral RNA was highest three to six days after symptom onset, with a significant decrease after only ten days. This is in contrast to the quarantine time period recommended by the US and UK national health agencies.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Valensky defended the decision for a five-day isolation period, as she told the New York Times that the recommendation was based on evidence that most transmission lasts in the two days before symptoms and two to three days after onset.
One reason for the shortening of the quarantine period for the Omicron variant is the increase in the number of people vaccinated. Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Alison Arvadi told NBC, “When a person is exposed to COVID, it takes a short time to potentially develop an infection. It takes less time for symptoms to develop, less time for someone to be contagious and less time for many people to recover. This is because many more people have been vaccinated.”
However, Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical School in England, shares a different opinion. Speaking to Fortune, Young said, “What we’re going to do is reduce the risk of highly infectious people returning to work or school. The bottom line with this is that this is not a scientific change or policy that is based on scientific evidence.” Yes. It’s based on the need to get people back to work.”
Most countries are not reducing their isolation period to five days like the US and UK. According to Fortune, the minimum number of days of quarantine in most countries is only ten days. Meanwhile, countries like Canada have reduced the quarantine period to five days for people who have been vaccinated. The recommended period of isolation in India is 14 days.
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