CDC to issue revised guidelines reducing COVID-19 quarantine time from 14 days to 7-10

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Front-line health care workers, older Americans among those who should be prioritized; Laura Ingle reports.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to issue revised guidelines on quarantine time for those who may have been exposed to the new coronavirus from 14 days to 7 days, for those who tested negative, and 10 days for those who have not. been tested, Fox News has learned.

Fox News obtained an internal document from the CDC on Tuesday outlining the proposed changes. A source told Fox News the changes had been discussed and approved by the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

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The CDC is expected to release the revised guidelines on Wednesday, a source told Fox News.

“Quarantine is used to remove a person who may have been exposed to COVID-19. Quarantine helps prevent the spread of diseases that can occur before a person knows they have the virus, ”the document said. “The CDC and other scientists have considered changing the current recommendation to quarantine for 14 days.”

“Reducing the length of the quarantine can increase compliance by reducing economic hardship,” the document continues. “In addition, the reduction in the time will reduce the stress on the public health system, especially when new infections increase rapidly.”

The document states that “based on local resources, the quarantine may end on day 7 after receiving a negative test result” or on “day 10 without test”.

“After you stop quarantine, you should: watch for symptoms for up to 14 days after exposure; if you have any symptoms, self-isolate immediately and contact your local public health authority or health care provider; wear a mask, stay at least six feet from others, wash your hands, avoid crowds and take other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, ”the document said.

The document adds, however, that the CDC “continues to recommend quarantine for 14 days to more completely reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19.”

“The CDC recognizes that any quarantine of less than 14 days reduces the load against a small possibility of the virus spreading,” the document said. “These recommendations are based on what we know now.”

The document added that, “The CDC will continue to assess new information and update recommendations as needed.”

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A senior administration official told Fox News the revised guidelines were “long overdue” and “something that should have happened sooner.”

The official told Fox News that the CDC’s revised recommendations were guided by extensive modeling studies conducted by scientists at the CDC, as well as scientists outside the agency. The official said the risk of COVID transmission remains the “lowest with 14 days of quarantine”, but the new options introduce an estimated “residual risk” of 1% if the quarantine is shortened to 10 days, and 5% residual risk of quarantine is reduced to 7 days, if you also add a test.

The official said the “increased low level of risk” associated with these new options “must be weighed against the benefits of reduced economic hardship, reduced stress on the public health system, and reduced economic stress. better compliance with quarantine and contact tracing that could improve overall control of new infections. “

The revised guidelines, which are expected to be announced on Wednesday, come as the Trump administration has said deliveries of a COVID-19 vaccine will begin as early as this week and will first be available to frontline workers, medical staff and old people.

Next week, Food and Drug Administration regulators are expected to review Pfizer’s request for emergency use authorization for its vaccine developed with BioNTech.

The latest vaccine trial data from Pfizer and BioNTech, released earlier this month, showed it to be 90% effective.

In addition, Moderna said its vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19. AstraZeneca also reported preliminary results which showed that its vaccine effectiveness ranged from 62% to 90%, depending on the dose given to the participants.

According to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, the vaccines will be “shipped” within 24 hours of FDA approval, then it will be “nursing homes, hospitals and pharmacies to get them delivered.” .

“It really could be that in the days after FDA approval, we’ll start to see vaccines in people’s arms, which is frankly incredible,” Azar said Monday.

The United States has reported more than 13.5 million cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and more than 267,000 deaths.