The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is defending new COVID-19 isolation guidelines after criticism that a negative test result recommendation should have been included.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky appeared on several morning shows Wednesday to explain why the agency earlier this week reduced the recommended isolation time for people who test positive for COVID-19 from 10 days to five days if they're asymptomatic. Some experts criticized the guidelines, arguing the CDC should recommend obtaining a negative test result prior to leaving isolation.
Walensky addressed this criticism on CNN, saying the agency decided not to recommend a rapid test to leave isolation because "we actually don't know" how well rapid tests "predict whether you're transmissible during the end of disease." She added that regardless of whether a rapid test at the end of isolation is negative or positive, the CDC's recommendation either way would be to wear a mask, and so "given that we were not going to change our recommendations based on the result of that rapid test, we opted not to include it."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The new guidelines were made based on the fact that "about 85 to 90 percent of viral transmission happens in those first five days," and "we want to be able to get people back out if they're feeling well," Walensky told CBS This Morning, adding the decision had "nothing to do with" rapid tests being difficult to find in some parts of the country. The CDC is still recommending that those exposed to COVID-19 get tested on day five "if possible."
On CNN, Walensky also said the CDC took into account "what we thought people would be able to tolerate," noting "we have seen relatively low rates of isolation" during the pandemic and that the agency wanted to ensure it had guidelines in place that "people were willing to adhere to."
-
The Icelandic women’s strike 50 years onIn The Spotlight The nation is ‘still no paradise’ for women, say campaigners
-
Mall World: why are people dreaming about a shopping centre?Under The Radar Thousands of strangers are dreaming about the same thing and no one sure why
-
Why scientists are attempting nuclear fusionThe Explainer Harnessing the reaction that powers the stars could offer a potentially unlimited source of carbon-free energy, and the race is hotting up
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
The new Stratus Covid strain – and why it’s on the riseThe Explainer ‘No evidence’ new variant is more dangerous or that vaccines won’t work against it, say UK health experts
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
