CDC cuts COVID-19 quarantine, isolation time for healthcare workers

Dec. 23 (UPI) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday updated its COVID-19 isolation and quarantine guidance for healthcare workers, shortening the amount of time before they can return to work.

The new rules allow healthcare workers with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic to return to work after seven days with a negative test. The agency said that isolation time could be further cut if there are staffing shortages.

Meanwhile, healthcare workers who have received all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters don’t have to quarantine at home after a high-risk exposure.

The CDC previously recommended 10 days of isolation or quarantine.

The CDC said the new guidelines are meant to limit the effects of staffing shortages at medical facilities dealing with an influx of COVID-19 patients.

“As the healthcare community prepares for an anticipated surge in patients due to Omicron, CDC is updating our recommendations to reflect what we know about infection and exposure in the context of vaccination and booster doses,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “Our goal is to keep healthcare personnel and patients safe, and to address and prevent undue burden on our healthcare facilities. Our priority, remains prevention — and I strongly encourage all healthcare personnel to get vaccinated and boosted.”

CDC data showed there was a seven-day moving average of 176,000 COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday, a figure that’s been on the rise since mid-October with the spread of the Omicron variant. Omicron accounted for only 73% of all COVID-19 cases in the United States last week, up from less than 1% two weeks prior.

There was a seven-day moving average of 1,200 deaths Wednesday, which has been mostly consistent in December. There were about 60,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations reported Tuesday.

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