CDC to End Five-Day COVID Isolation Rule

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Facts

  • The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reportedly planning to end its current recommendation of isolation for five days after testing positive for COVID.1
  • Once implemented, the isolation policy change, the first since the five-day suggestion took effect in 2021, will reportedly recommend that people no longer need to isolate once they've had no fever for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild or improving.2
  • The report on the new policy, which is expected to be officially announced in April, comes alongside similar isolation policy changes in Oregon and California. Once in place, it would treat COVID the same as the flu and RSV.3
  • The revised recommendation has reportedly been in the works since last August, with CDC Director Mandy Cohen issuing a memo in January that alluded to the change. The revision plan was delayed last fall amid a rise in COVID cases.4
  • The decisions from federal and state health departments also followed new CDC data showing weekly COVID deaths across the country at 2.3K and hospitalizations at 20K. Among the 16 countries Calif. reviewed for its decision, only Germany and Ireland still have five-day mandates.4

Sources: 1New York Post, 2CNN, 3Just The News and 4Washington Post.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Naked Capitalism. The problem with comparing COVID to the flu or RSV is that the latter pair of illnesses can't lead to long forms, as is the case with Long COVID. The five-day isolation rule was and still should be used to ensure that those who have contracted the illness — whether asymptomatic or not — don't give it to someone else who could then develop long-term issues.
  • Narrative B, as provided by WSJ. Isolating over minor symptoms was something we did early during COVID — but the pandemic is now over and it's time to move on. One of the most serious issues related to this is the skyrocketing rates of chronic absenteeism across America's schools. Despite most governments having dropped old COVID rules, record numbers of students are still using the memory of the pandemic as an excuse to skip class and stop learning.

Predictions