US health officials said Monday that people infected with the COVID-19 virus can now reduce their isolation time from ten to five days, provided they are not showing symptoms, which also reduced that time for contact cases.
• Read also: COVID-19: ‘Don’t panic,’ says Biden in the face of US pollution boom
• Read also: Covid-19: Daily pollution close to its record in the United States
The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the main US health agency, said in a statement that the change was “justified by science,” with the majority of infections occurring within two days. preceding and three days. after symptoms appear.
“These updates allow everyone to continue their daily lives in a safe manner,” CDC director Rochelle Wallinsky said in a statement.
The most transmissible Omicron variant is now the majority in the United States, and the number of cases is rising sharply in the country, to more than 200,000 daily cases over the past two days, approaching last January’s record. Officials are concerned that some economic sectors will be paralyzed due to a shortage of manpower.
While halving the isolation of asymptomatic people, health authorities are advising them to wear a mask within five days.
Quarantine time for non-immunized contact cases has also been reduced from 14 to 5 days, with mask-wearing strictly advised within the following five days. According to these recommendations, completely immune contact cases do not need to be self-isolating.
On December 23, these authorities had already reduced the length of isolation for caregivers.
The CDC’s recommendations serve as a standard and are widely followed in the United States, but they do not constitute a federal obligation.
The sharp rise in the number of cases in the country, and the periods of isolation that accompany it, in recent days has caused airlines to cancel flights by the hundreds.
On Monday morning, President Joe Biden acknowledged that hospitals across the country, and some hospitals across the country, were “overwhelmed with equipment and staff,” but called on Americans not to “panic.”