CDC Shortens COVID-19 Quarantine, With Conditions

12-3-20 Yesterday the CDC announced new guidance regarding quarantine of asymptomatic, but exposed, individuals. Today Washington State has adopted the new guidelines.

Local public health authorities determine and establish the quarantine options for their jurisdictions. CDC currently recommends a quarantine period of 14 days. However, based on local circumstances and resources, the following options to shorten quarantine are acceptable alternatives.

• Quarantine can end after Day 10 without testing and if no symptoms have been reported during daily monitoring.
  • With this strategy, residual post-quarantine transmission risk is estimated to be about 1% with an upper limit of about 10%.
• When diagnostic testing resources are sufficient and available then quarantine can end after Day 7 if a diagnostic specimen tests negative and if no symptoms were reported during daily monitoring. The specimen may be collected and tested within 48 hours before the time of planned quarantine discontinuation (e.g., in anticipation of testing delays), but quarantine cannot be discontinued earlier than after Day 7.
  • With this strategy, the residual post-quarantine transmission risk is estimated to be about 5% with an upper limit of about 12%.

In both cases, additional criteria (e.g., continued symptom monitoring and masking through Day 14) must be met and are outlined in the full text in the link below.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/941893?src=mkm_covid_update_201202_MSCPEDIT&uac=38292HZ&impID=2711997&faf=1