Federal officials have come forward in defending the new isolation rules prescribed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the omicron variant.
The federal officials have defended the amount of time recommended by the CDC for isolation if tested positive for the omicron variant powered coronavirus.
CDC announced that “it’s recommending to reduce the number of isolation days from 10 to five Monday.”
Some of the people have rejoiced over the decision of a shortened isolation period whereas many others have criticized it, arguing that the CDC has bowed down to business interests and science.
The announcement by CDC came days after the CEO of Delta Airlines asked CDC to shorten up the isolation period as thousands of flights were being canceled because of the shortage of customers after the resurgence of covid-19 cases because of the omicron variant.
Rochelle Walensky, the Director of CDC stated, “the new recommendation is backed by science. The most amount of covid-19 transmission happened in the one or two days before developing symptoms and in the two to three days after developing symptoms.” The decision is backed by behavioral science, too,” she said.
“It really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate,” Walensky said.
The rising cases of covid-19 have contributed towards this decision of CDC to shorten up the isolation period.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has stated earlier that “forcing everyone who tests positive for covid-19 to isolate for 10 days could lead to much more dangerous consequences.”
John Hopkins University stated that this month has already been the third-highest month of covid-19 cases since the pandemic started 2 years ago.
Walensky stated that she is expecting that in the newer months, more cases will be recorded by this contagious omicron strain.
“This guidance is especially problematic when reliable testing is not widely available, and particularly difficult to access in places experiencing surge conditions,” said Fauci.
