The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) might soon change the quarantine rules for those who test positive for Covid-19.
They are thinking about changing the five-day isolation period to just 24 hours. This would mean that after this time, people with mild or improving symptoms wouldn’t need to stay home anymore. Instead, they could decide when to go back out, based on how they feel.
This comes at a time when many big businesses are reportedly finding it hard to get workers back in the office, as new Covid strains bring along new symptoms.
This proposed change would treat Covid-19 more like other common chest illnesses, such as the flu and RSV. Normally, most people don’t stay home when they have these illnesses. But, Covid-19 is still much more dangerous than those viruses, especially for people who are at risk.
Despite medical advances, Covid-19 still sends people over 65 to the hospital ten times more often than the flu and is three to four times more likely to be fatal. Long Covid, where symptoms continue even after the infection has gone, remains a growing worry. CDC data shows that more than 20,000 people were hospitalized for Covid-19, and 774 people died from it in the week of Feb. 3, 2024.
This winter, there are fewer sick people than last year, but more Covid-19 cases.
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New CDC rules might soon be like other places with easier rules. California and Oregon stopped telling sick people to isolate. They say if you feel okay and don’t have a fever for a day, you can go out.
Dr. Tomas Aragon from California says the new advice is good for our current situation with COVID-19.
“We are now at a different point in time with reduced impacts from COVID-19 compared to prior years due to broad immunity from vaccination and/or natural infection and readily available treatments available for infected people,” said Dr. Aragon.
He also said we’re trying to protect people who could get very sick and make life more normal, unlike how we stop other common cold viruses.
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“Public health has to be realistic,” said Michael T. Osterholm, a disease expert.
“In making recommendations to the public today, we have to try to get the most out of what people are willing to do. … You can be absolutely right in the science and yet accomplish nothing because no one will listen to you.”
