The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is likely going to reduce the recommended quarantine length, and it could be reduced by half.
The CDC currently recommends individuals exposed to someone with COVID-19 to quarantine for 14 days. However, health officials are considering reducing the length of isolation, according to NPR.
On Tuesday, Adm. Brett Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said health officials were rethinking that recommendation, citing “a preponderance of evidence that a shorter quarantine complemented by a test might be able to shorten that quarantine period.”
“We are actively working on that type of guidance right now, reviewing the evidence, but we want to make absolutely sure,” he said, adding, “These kind of recommendations aren’t willy nilly.”
It is unknown how much shorter the recommended isolation period could be, however, an anonymous federal official told NPR that it will likely be between 7-10 days.
The CDC did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
The country is currently experiencing a sharp rise in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Last week, the CDC advised against traveling for the holidays, however, the Transportation Security Administration screened more than three million people last weekend, less than half the number they screened during the same time period a year ago but still the highest in months.
To date, there have been more than 12.4 million COVID-19 diagnoses in the United States, while more than 258,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus, according to the John Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.
