According to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of people who took a rapid antigen test five to nine days after first testing positive for the coronaviruses or Covid-19 symptoms tested positive on the test.
The revised isolation guidelines say that many people with Covid can end their isolation periods without a negative coronaviruses test.
A scientist who was an author of the study said that he did not believe the agency needed to change their isolation guidelines. Scientists said the results suggest that many people with the virus may still be infectious.
The study shows that five days is not enough for a lot of people.
The research was done after Omicron became the dominant variant in the United States. The number of Americans who are in isolation has fallen because of the fall in cases.
The C.D.C shortened the isolation period to five days in December. Many public health experts criticized the move, noting that people might still be infectious after five days and that allowing them to end isolation without testing might help the new variant spread faster.
The author of the new study said that he believed the study supported the current isolation guidance of the agency.
I don't think it means that the current guidance needs to be changed, he said.
He said that the study supports the idea that antigen tests can be integrated into isolation guidelines.
He said that it is possible to incorporate antigen tests into the guidance for isolation because they give additional information about someone's risk of being potentially infectious.
The new study was based on people with coronaviruses who were reported to the Whitehorse-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, which provides health care for rural communities in southwestern Alaska.
New isolation guidelines were issued in January. People who test positive for the virus should be isolated for 10 days. On days 5 through 9 of their isolation periods, people who had no symptoms or resolving symptoms, and had not had a fever for at least 24 hours, were eligible for free Abbott rapid antigen tests. They could end their isolation periods early if they tested negative.
Almost half of the people who took the tests tested positive. The proportion of people who tested positive went down over time, from 38.6 percent on Day 9 to 67.5 percent on Day 5.
The researchers found that people who had infections were more likely to test positive for them. People who had received a primary vaccine series and had previously been exposed to the virus were less likely to get positive results.
"I don't think this is surprising based off the data we're seeing and the general concern from the infectious disease community on shortening isolation in the face of a novel variant."
The findings are consistent with other recent studies that have not yet been published. More than 40 percent of health care workers tested positive for rapid antigen tests on days 5 through 10 of their illnesses, according to a study.
A majority of people with suspected and confirmed Omicron infections still had high viral loads more than five days after the first test.
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