The president's top infectious disease expert has admitted out loud what has been quietly suspected about the CDC's decision to halve the recommended quarantine period for confirmed positive Covid cases and exposures to just 5 days (without even requiring a negative test prior to leaving quarantine.) This decision was primarily based on the need to “get people back to jobs", not to minimize the latest surge in coronavirus cases.
The CDC's decision follows heavy lobbying by airlines to reduce the quarantine period to 5 days to get flight attendants infected with coronavirus back to work as quickly as possible. The CDC initially resisted, but the pressure of mass flight cancellations over the Christmas holiday seem to have won out over human lives.
This is just another case of the CDC putting politics over science during the pandemic. From prematurely lifting the recommendation that vaccinated people mask up to misguided (and thankfully brief) recommendation against making or 6 feet of physical distancing in schools; from the refusal to acknowledge 5-year-old evidence coronaviruses are airborne to the unscientific insistence that the rough, acidic environment of human skin was more likely to transmit an enveloped virus than the air to the refusal to adopt the very same policy they did in 2008 of recommending respirators for the general public, the CDC has failed again and again during both the Trump and Biden administrations to put aside political concerns and adopt sound recommendations to protect public health.
Furthermore, putting the economy ahead of public health has ultimately proven a failed policy; Taiwan, with some of the world's strictest Covid restrictions, saw continued economic growth in 2020 while the US and many other economies contracted violently. The best way to keep people at work is to keep them healthy, not force them to go back to work sick and infect their coworkers.
At this crucial juncture in the pandemic, with hospitalizations again surging by double digits in New York daily and multiple confirmed Omicron deaths even in fully vaccinated and boosted people, the CDC has lost the public's trust. It is time for Dr. Walensky to step down and new leadership who has the courage to stand up to political pressure and provide only scientifically sound information to take the helm before even more lives are needlessly lost.
Wednesday, Dec 29, 2021 · 7:34:53 AM +00:00 · rufe
Just a quick review of the evidence:
Covid does appear to be most contagious in the first week or so of infection; however, you remain infectious for as many as 9 days. It is not known if Omicron is infectious for a longer or shorter period of time. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(20)30172-5/fulltext
Quarantine for exposure can probably be reduced to 7 days with a negative test taken on day 6. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20742-8.epdf
(Very) early evidence suggests Omicron has an average incubation period of 3 days. In this case, a 5 day quarantine for exposures with a negative test on day 5 is probably justifiable, but not for confirmed positive cases. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm705152e3.htm