MILWAUKEE – Dr. John Raymond, President and CEO at the Medical College of Wisconsin, says the recent change in CDC recommendations were made “for practical and scientific reasons.”
Those changes include shortening the recommended self-isolation period for someone who tests positive for COVID-19.
“People, especially public health experts, have been calling for this for a long time, mainly based on the biology of COVID-19,” Dr. Raymond said on Wisconsin’s Afternoon News.
“We know that people are most likely to transmit the disease to others in the 1-2 days before they show symptoms, or in the couple of days after that.”
“So the ten day period of time for most people was thought to be too long.”
Based on that, the CDC now says that people who are asymptomatic five-days after testing positive no longer need to self-isolate.
“People with COVID-19 should isolate for 5 days and if they are asymptomatic or their symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours), follow that by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others to minimize the risk of infecting people they encounter,” the CDC wrote in a press release.
Dr. Raymond says he thinks the fact that several industries are dealing with worker shortages also influenced the decision.
“We’re faced with a shortage of essential workers right now in many sectors of the economy,” Dr. Raymond said.
“And so for practical reasons, and for scientific reasons, we have shortened the isolation and quarantine periods for people who either have COVID or have been exposed to COVID.”
You can listen to the entire interview with Dr. Raymond in the player at the top of the page.
