For most of the Pandemic, people with COVID-19 must be isolated for 10 days after their first positive COVID-19 test.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed their recommendation on Monday due to a steep rise in Omicron cases. The CDC said that people with COVID-19 who don't have symptoms should be isolated for five days and wear a mask.
The agency said that people who have been exposed should be tested five days after exposure. If you've received a booster dose, you should wear a mask for 10 days after exposure and be tested for any symptoms. People who are unvaccinated or haven't been boosted should wear a mask for five days after exposure.
The CDC said it decided to do so because it understood that most coronaviruses transmission occurs early in the course of illness, between 1-2 days before symptoms arrive and 1-2 days after a person becomes symptom free.
Some disease experts had questioned whether the old CDC isolation guidelines were too harsh for people who develop symptoms.
The dean of the Brown School of Public Health said on Sunday that five days of isolation should be enough to end it.
The average person with COVID-19 probably won't be contagious for more than five days after their first positive test, according to evidence cited by Jha. He said rapid tests are a good proxy for contagiousness since they're designed to give positive results when a person's viral load is the highest.
When the tests are positive.
Shayanne Gal is an Insider.
"If you have two tests come up negative, it's a very safe way to make sure that you're not spreading any diseases," Andy Pekosz told Insider. One test is good. A second one adds to that level of security and makes you feel more confident that someone won't spread the virus.
Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, suggested on Sunday that people should be able to test out of isolation after two days of negative tests. The UK allows people to end isolation after seven days, following two negative rapid tests.
Some experts told Insider that a week of isolation may still be enough for people without rapid tests.
"If you're not going to be able to confirm your testing status in a reasonable amount of time, a 10-day isolation is probably the best option," said Pekosz.
Isolation time can be determined by symptoms and vaccination status.
A man takes a test at an airport.
James D. Morgan is a photographer.
Last week the CDC adjusted its isolation guidelines for healthcare workers. If a healthcare worker is positive for COVID-19, they can return to work after seven days.
The New York State Department of Health said last week that healthcare professionals can be released from isolation after five days if they are symptom free and don't have a nose bleed. The department said essential workers don't have to test negative to end their isolation.
waning symptoms are usually a sign that a person is becoming less contagious, but they aren't the sole indicator of whether a person with COVID-19 can spread the disease.
We should rely more on the test results than on the symptoms. Juliet Morrison is a virologist.
Juliet Morrison told Insider that we should rely more on the test results than on the symptoms. "If you have symptoms, you are likely infectious, but we know that there are lots of infections that are not infectious and that we can still get transmission in that scenario."
Isolation guidelines should consider a person's vaccination status. Morrison said there's a case to be made for shortening the isolation period to five days.
"From a scientific standpoint, it makes sense that someone who is vaccine-free would be clearing the virus more quickly than someone who is not," she said.
Some experts are still wary of the tests.
A rapid test sample is being processed.
Brittany Murray is a reporter for the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
When it comes to determining if you're contagious, rapid tests are more reliable than a PCR.
"If you're trying to test yourself out of isolation, you don't want a test because they will give you a positive far out beyond when you are actually contagious," Morrison said.
Experts caution that even rapid tests aren't perfect.
"I get nervous when we use testing to declare someone safe," said Susan Butler-Wu, an associate professor of clinical pathology at the University of Southern California.
She said that not all tests behave the same. Each brand works differently in terms of how it's designed and has a slightly different limit of detection, meaning how much virus has to be there for me to be able to detect it.
She wouldn't feel comfortable isolating for less than 10 days. She said that scientists are still studying how well rapid tests detect Omicron and how long people with the variant are capable of infecting others.
Omicron is new. We know it's transmissible, but we don't know much about it. The 10-day isolation period might be too short, but it might also be perfect.
