CDC plans to drop 5-day covid isolation period, report says

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans on doing away with the five-day waiting period for people who test positive for covid, according to the Washington Post.

Instead of going with a time-based approach, the Post reported that the guidance will be symptom-based — people will no longer need to stay home from work or school if they have been fever-free for 24 hours without medication and if their symptoms are mild and improving.

CDC officials told the Post that these isolation recommendations would not apply to hospitals and other health care settings with vulnerable populations.

“The CDC appears to be meeting the public where they are at this time while reflecting the reality that many Americans are not testing even with mild symptoms, nor isolating for 5 days after symptom onset with mild disease,” said Dr. Tom Walsh, an infectious disease specialist at Allegheny Health Network. “These recommendations reflect those for seasonal influenza, which attempt to balance the risk-benefit to minimize transmission during the period when an infected individual is the most contagious.”

The move follows that of Oregon, which changed its isolation policy in May, and California, which did the same last month, according to CNN.

“The updated CDC guidance — like that issued by Oregon and California — reflects a harm reduction approach to a virus that is endemic and for which there are more tools than any other respiratory virus,” said Pittsburgh-based Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “Increasingly, it has been clear that covid guidance would need to be integrated with other respiratory viruses and not singled out in perpetuity.”

CDC sources told the Post that the change mirrors guidance on how to prevent the spread of flu and RSV.

The Post reported that it is unclear if the CDC will update its guidance on masking, which is recommended for 10 days after testing positive for covid.

Walsh pointed out that the science regarding covid transmission has not changed — infected people are contagious for at least a few days.

“Additionally, there are still many vulnerable people – especially the elderly and immunocompromised patients – who are at risk for developing severe and even life threatening covid-19, and it is important that recently infected persons minimize exposing these high-risk individuals when possible,” he said.