Foreseeing a surge in hospitalizations due to the Omicron variant, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that it is shortening the isolation time for health care workers who test positive for COVID-19, down from 10 days to 7 days. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was open about the fact that expected staff shortages, and not new science, were the basis for the decision: “Our goal is to keep healthcare personnel and patients safe, and to address and prevent undue burden on our healthcare facilities.”
The CDC’s new guidelines say health care workers with COVID-19 may return to work after 7 days if they are asymptomatic and test negative, and that the “isolation time can be cut further if there are staffing shortages.” Furthermore, health care workers don’t need to quarantine “following high-risk exposures” if they’ve gotten all recommended vaccinations, including a booster shot.
