Despite the high number of infections
Shortened corona quarantine: Those who tested positive only have to isolate themselves for five days in the USA
USA: People are queuing at a makeshift corona test center to get tested.
© Debra L. Rothenberg / Zuma Press Wire / DPA
Anyone who is infected with the corona virus in the United States has had to be in quarantine for ten days so far. The health authority has now halved this deadline. One reason is the lack of staff in many industries.
In the United States, the number of new corona infections is increasing rapidly. Authorities reported 543,415 new cases on Monday. This brings the number closer to the records from last December. That also puts a strain on the economy, like that “New York Times” reports. Around the Christmas holidays, thousands of flights had to be canceled due to a lack of staff. Restaurants and retailers could soon be affected by staff shortages and closings.
But health experts warn that this is only the beginning of the wave. “The Omikron variant is spreading rapidly and has the potential to affect all areas of society,” said the chairman of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, the “New York Times”. In order to stop the spread of the new virus variant, the authority had initially recommended isolation for ten days.
CDC wants to enable people to go about their daily lives again
But now the CDC has shortened the recommended duration after a corona infection to five days. The reason is scientific evidence that most infections take place early in the course of the disease – usually in the one to two days before the onset of symptoms and in the two to three days after, the CDC said on Monday. The authorities understand isolation as the time after a confirmed infection.
The shortening is now recommended when those affected no longer have symptoms and wear a mask for another five days when they are near others. In doing so, the authority is also reacting to the growing economic pressure. The new recommendations “weigh up between knowing about the spread of the new virus variant and the protection provided by the vaccination and the booster,” said Walensky. “This update enables people to go about their daily lives safely.”
However, the CDC does not recommend testing yourself before ending isolation. However, scientists consider this to be an important step in ensuring that the virus is not being spread unknowingly.
Where Omikron has appeared everywhere
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USA: Those who are boosted can bypass quarantine
The CDC is also adjusting the guidelines for quarantine – they apply to people who have had contact with an infected person. For people who are not or not fully vaccinated against Corona, a quarantine of five instead of ten days may also be recommended. In order to be able to bypass the quarantine completely, it now also plays a role whether those affected have received a booster vaccination.
The CDC guidelines are not regulations, but recommendations for employers and state and local authorities.
In the USA, companies recently called for the isolation time to be shortened due to the surge in new corona infections. As a result, the CDC had already reduced the length of isolation for health workers last week. After various flight cancellations, airlines, for example, had advertised a shorter isolation period.