We’re what, 21 months in to the Chinese coronavirus (well, really, over a year, it’s just February when we really started to hear about it), and they’re just figuring this stuff out now?
CDC director defends new COVID guidelines reducing isolation period
Amid criticism from public health officials, Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky defended new guidelines released this week that halved the isolation period for people who test positive for COVID-19 but are asymptomatic or whose symptoms are ‘resolving.’
“This virus has proven its ability to adapt quickly and we must adapt with it,” Walensky said Wednesday during a briefing by the White House COVID-19 response team.
The CDC announced the changes Monday, saying they were “shortening the recommended time for isolation from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to five days, if asymptomatic, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others.”
During Wednesday’s press briefing, Walensky said that “studies show that people are most infectious in the one-to-two days before symptoms develop, and in the two-to-three days after,” with an estimated 85-90 percent of transmission occurring in the first five days of infection with COVID-19.
“After five days, the risk of transmission substantially decreases,” she said.
We didn’t know this before? Why not? What was the CDC doing all this time?
“Basically, if you test negative or positive we want you to mask,” Walensky said, noting that the new CDC guidance recommends masking for five days after isolation.
“I want to emphasize the critical importance of masking, which we know decreases risk of transmission, and of staying home if you’re sick,” she said, adding, “These recommendations will only work if people follow them.”
Oh, would these be the masks required in areas like NYC which are seeing huge spikes in positive tests?
“It’s frankly reckless to proceed like this. Using a rapid test or some type of test to validate that the person isn’t infectious is vital,” Dr. Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, told Reuters, adding, “There’s no evidence, no data to support this.”
Oh, it gets better, Doc
wait what https://t.co/1vW8mpT8xX
— Emily Zanotti ???? (@emzanotti) December 29, 2021
So the tests won’t really tell you? Oh, but, she gets so much better!
“It really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate,” CDC Director Walensky says on why the CDC shortened the isolation period from 10 days to 5 days if you’re asymptomatic. Our full interview: pic.twitter.com/rO7blPFiPj
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 29, 2021
So, that’s science? What people can tolerate? No one seemed to have a problem forcing isolation a month ago? Nor are any other countries doing this. I bet kids really do not appreciate all those shots for, say, smallpox. Maybe we should only give them 3 instead of 5 if they can’t tolerate them? Yeah, 5 is necessary for full immunity to smallpox. What about masks? What if people cannot tolerate them? Like kids. Remember all those videos of 2 year olds freaking about wearing a mask on an airplane and the family being kicked off?
Read: CDC Spins Away In Trying To Defend New Isolation Protocols »