During the first Omicron surge of winter 2021-2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed their ten-day Covid-19 isolation guidelines to five days after they received a request from Delta CEO, Ed Bastian. The change wasn’t based on any data or science, as Betsy wrote nearly two years ago for the Covid-19 Data Dispatch, citing several studies showing infectiousness far beyond five days. The research since then has only continued to back up this finding; the CDC even has current guidance that states people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised can be infectious for at least 20 days.
Last week, a Washington Post reporter Lena Sun broke the story that the CDC is planning a change from that five-day isolation period to a mere one day — still not based on any data or science. In her article, Sun acknowledges that CDC officials anticipate pushback to this change, writing, “The plan to further loosen isolation guidance when the science around infectiousness has not changed is likely to prompt strong negative reaction from vulnerable groups, including people older than 65, those with weak immune systems and long-covid patients.” To be clear, these demographics likely represent more than a hundred million Americans.
Clearly, both the CDC and other public health experts quoted in Sun’s story are aware the new policy isn’t based on data or science. They are likely also aware that a one-day isolation period will only lead to more infections that will increase rates of Long Covid and lead to more reinfections, which we know are far from benign.“Public consent for reducing and eliminating isolation periods has come at the tail end of a long series of misinformation, designed to push people to accept forever reinfections,” Julia Doubleday wrote last week in The Gauntlet, explaining how the proposed guidance will heavily impact workers and sick leave.
The leak of this potential guidance led to a large backlash from many groups, who pointed out that even asymptomatic or mild cases of Covid-19 can lead to Long Covid. As scientist and health equity organizer Lucky Tran wrote in a letter to the Post, “The bare minimum we should have learned from a devastating pandemic that has killed and disabled millions is that we should stay home when we are sick. Yet, inexplicably, by caving in to corporate interests, governments are encouraging people to not even do the bare minimum.”
Since the science around infectiousness has not changed and our understanding of the long-term impacts has only grown in the past two years, I encourage readers to read an article Betsy wrote two years ago for Covid-19 Data Dispatch that links to numerous studies showing infectiousness lasting beyond five days, which the CDC has yet to address. This article was initially published in April 2022, but the science on infectiousness has not significantly changed since then.
In the article, Betsy wrote about one study from Japan that showed a “marked decrease” in viral RNA only after ten days, while another later published in eLife described Omicron infections among National Basketball Association (NBA) players found that “five days after their Omicron infections started, about half of the basketball players were still testing positive with a PCR test — and showing significant viral load, indicating contagiousness.” Two other studies Betsy wrote about, one later published in the New England Journal of Medicine and another in the CDC’s own Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), also showed people were infectious well beyond five days.
The CDC’s new proposed 24-hour guidance will certainly lead to more surges and infections, further exclude vulnerable people from society, and likely increase cases of long-term complications from Covid-19 as people continue to be infected and reinfected. While the proposed guidelines may not be released until April for public comment, many members of the public have already begun calling their representatives, the White House, and the CDC to voice their opposition to the proposed guidelines.
By choosing to ignore the science around the infectiousness of Covid-19, the CDC has allowed itself to become a target of parody. Last week, the parody account The Verlartnic wrote a headline, “CDC Considering Dropping Second C”, as there seems to be no initiative from the agency to stop the spread of Covid-19.
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