Health
Should the CDC drop its 5-day COVID isolation guidelines? Doctors weigh in
Is the COVID quarantine on its way out?
Amid reports that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be considering a change to its COVID isolation guidelines, doctors are sharing their own recommendations.
The current CDC guidance, which was implemented in late 2021, calls for people who test positive for the virus to “stay home for at least five days and isolate from others in your home,” its website states.
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This was a reduction from the 10-day isolation that was recommended at the start of the pandemic.
Although some reports have claimed that the CDC is currently working on revising isolation guidelines ahead of an April announcement, the agency has not confirmed that any updates are forthcoming.
The current CDC guidance, which was implemented in late 2021, calls for people who test positive for the virus to “stay home for at least five days and isolate from others in your home.” (iStock)
When contacted by Fox News, the CDC issued the following statement.
“No updates to COVID guidelines to announce at this time. We will continue to make decisions based on the best evidence and science to keep communities healthy and safe.”
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Some states have already relaxed their own guidelines.
In both Oregon and California, people with COVID do not have to isolate at all — as long as they have been fever-free for 24 hours without using fever-reducing medicines and their other COVID symptoms are improving, according to each state’s health department.
Both states do call for COVID-positive people to continue wearing a mask for 10 days, even after coming out of isolation.
Some reports suggest that the CDC may be considering an update to its COVID isolation guidelines, although the agency said no changes have been announced. (REUTERS/Tami Chappell/File Photo)
“We are now at a different point in time with reduced impacts from COVID-19 compared to prior years, due to broad immunity from vaccination and/or natural infection, and readily available treatments for infected people,” the California Department of Public Health said in a Jan. 9 statement on its website.
“We are now at a different point in time with reduced impacts from COVID-19 compared to prior years.”
“Most of our policies and priorities for intervention are now focused on protecting those most at risk for serious illness, while reducing social disruption that is disproportionate to recommendations for the prevention of other endemic respiratory viral infections.”
Doctors express thoughts
Timothy Brewer, M.D., professor of medicine and epidemiology at UCLA, said on Feb. 14 that he has seen news reports suggesting that the CDC may change its COVID isolation recommendations — “but to my knowledge and in checking the CDC’s website today, their recommendations have not yet changed.”
As of the most recently reported week ending Feb. 3, 2024, the share of administered COVID tests with positive results was 10%, a 0.6% decrease from the prior week. (iStock)
“Most respiratory viruses — including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease — influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are capable of being spread while persons with these infections are ill,” Brewer told Fox News Digital.
“Being able to isolate oneself when sick with a respiratory viral infection should reduce community spread of these viruses, which remains high or moderately high in much of the country,” he went on.
“Removing the current guidelines is a correct step to helping to restore the work force.”
Advising people to stay home and isolate while sick “makes excellent public health sense,” according to Brewer.
“I don’t think the exact number of days matters as much as waiting until the person is feeling better, meaning no fever for at least 24 hours off antipyretic medicines and all other symptoms are improving,” he said.
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Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, said that he thinks the CDC isolation recommendations should be changed, “but not in the same way that Oregon and California have.”
“I think they will be changed and should have been changed a while ago,” Siegel told Fox News Digital.
The current five-day isolation guidance is a reduction from the original 10-day recommendation implemented at the start of the pandemic. (iStock)
“I recently interviewed Dr. Mandy Cohen, head of the CDC, and she told me that they are shifting their focus more toward putting doctors and their patients in charge in general, acknowledging individual differences,” he added.
Siegel recommends removing the five-day isolation period.
“The pandemic has been over for several months, and though there was an uptick this winter, with over 20,000 hospitalizations and 1,500 deaths per week at one point, it is now diminishing,” he said.
“The pandemic has been over for several months, and though there was an uptick this winter, it is now diminishing.”
For those who are sick — particularly if they feel fatigued, are coughing and sneezing, or have a fever — Siegel’s guidance is to stay home.
“If you feel well and the above symptoms have been gone for two days or more, you can return to work with a mask,” the doctor said.
In addition to isolating for five days, the CDC recommends wearing a high-quality mask when around others at home. (iStock)
Paxlovid should shorten the amount of time a patient needs to stay at home, Siegel added.
“I would not adopt the exact same recommendations as flu, which is one day after a fever subsides, because COVID spreads more easily than flu, and we still want to keep you out of the workplace if you are contagious,” he said.
“I would say two days for COVID after major symptoms resolve rather than one day,” Siegel said.
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The doctor also urged the CDC to emphasize that the main guidance should come from the doctor/patient interaction.
“There are individual differences between patients, and those who are immunocompromised or have multiple diseases or are elderly should stay out longer,” he told Fox News Digital. “A doctor should help decide.”
“Removing the current guidelines is a correct step to helping to restore the work force.”
COVID numbers continue downward trend
As of the most recently reported week ending Feb. 3, 2024, the share of administered COVID tests with positive results was 10%, a 0.6% decrease from the prior week.
Out of all emergency department visits, 1.8% of them were diagnosed with COVID, a 10.8% week-over-week decline.
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COVID-related hospitalizations decreased 10% from the prior week.
The share of all U.S. deaths due to COVID was 3.1%, which reflected a 6.1% decrease.
COVID vaccines have shown to be 54% effective in preventing COVID symptoms in adults, according to CDC data, but a majority of people are opting to skip the vaccine. (Julian Stratenschulte/picture alliance via Getty Images)
People now have more resources to protect against the virus and its potentially adverse effects, including the availability of antiviral medications, such as Paxlovid, as well as COVID vaccines.
The vaccines have shown to be 54% effective in preventing COVID symptoms in adults, according to CDC data from Feb. 1.
A majority of people, however, are opting to skip the vaccine.
The share of U.S. adults who have received the updated COVID vaccine is 21.9%, while only 12.2% of children are up-to-date.
The vaccination rate is higher for older adults, at 42% among adults age 65 and up.
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Those at risk of type 2 diabetes may be able to prevent heart problems later.
A new study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology discovered that lowering the blood sugar of those with prediabetes could reduce the risk of heart attack by half.
Diabetes researchers and endocrine experts across Europe, China and the U.S. investigated how bringing blood sugar back to normal levels affected the chances of heart problems later in life, based on a 20-year American study and a 30-year Chinese study, according to a press release.
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In both studies, the prediabetic participants were coached to make appropriate lifestyle changes to lower blood sugar (the amount of glucose in the bloodstream) through diet and exercise, also targeting weight loss.
Participants worked to lower blood sugar through diet and exercise targeted at weight loss. (iStock)
The researchers split the participants into a remission group (where blood sugar returned to normal) and a non-remission group, which included those still in the prediabetes range. They then determined who in these groups had died from heart disease or were hospitalized for heart failure.
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Participants who went into remission had a 58% lower risk of dying from heart disease and being hospitalized for heart failure. This group also had a lower risk of other major heart events and lower overall death rates.
These heart-protective benefits lasted for decades after the program ended, the researchers found.
Those in prediabetes remission had their risk of a heart event reduced by more than half. (iStock)
“Reaching prediabetes remission is linked to a decades-long benefit, halving the risk of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure in diverse populations,” the researchers commented in the publication of the study. “Targeting remission might represent a new approach to cardiovascular prevention.”
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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Andreas Birkenfeld, study co-author and professor of medicine at the University Hospital Tübingen in Germany, reiterated that reaching prediabetes remission is not only relevant for reducing the progression of type 2 diabetes, but may also be associated with a “meaningful reduction in… heart attack risk, cardiac death and heart failure.”
“Importantly, this underscores that prediabetes is a modifiable stage where timely, evidence-based interventions (especially lifestyle measures, and in selected cases, medication) can make a real difference,” he added.
“Reaching prediabetes remission is linked to a decades-long benefit, halving the risk of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure in diverse populations,” the researchers commented. (iStock)
The study did have some limitations, including that it is based on analysis of trials not originally designed to measure cardiovascular outcomes, which means the results show association but cannot prove causation.
In addition, unmeasured lifestyle and health factors, population differences and lack of randomization for heart outcomes may have influenced the reduced cardiovascular risk, the researchers acknowledged.
“This underscores that prediabetes is a modifiable stage where timely, evidence-based interventions … can make a real difference.”
Birkenfeld suggested that those with prediabetes should ask their doctors the following questions: “What is my current status? What is my personal cardiovascular risk? What is my target blood glucose level?”
Patients should also inquire about the frequency of testing for blood sugar and key risk factors like blood pressure, cholesterol and other related conditions, such as kidney function or sleep apnea, he advised.
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“If lifestyle changes aren’t enough or my risk is high, would medication be appropriate for me — and what are the benefits and downsides?” the researcher asked as an example.
About 98 million American adults, more than one in three, have prediabetes, according to CDC data. Eight in 10 of these adults are unaware that they have the disease.
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One of the most widely known risks linked to the COVID-19 vaccine is myocarditis, especially in young males — and now a new Stanford study has shed some light on why this rare effect can occur.
Myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart, occurs in about one in 140,000 people who receive the first dose of the vaccine and one in 32,000 after the second dose, according to a Stanford press release. Among males 30 and younger, that rises to one in 16,750.
Symptoms of the condition include chest pain, shortness of breath, fever and palpitations, which can occur just one to three days after vaccination. Another marker is heightened levels of cardiac troponin, which indicates that the heart muscle has been damaged.
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In most cases, people who experience myocarditis recover quickly and restore full heart function, according to study author Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, the director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and a professor of medicine and radiology.
One of the most widely known risks linked to the COVID-19 vaccine is myocarditis, especially in young males. (iStock)
“It’s not a heart attack in the traditional sense,” Wu told Fox News Digital. “There’s no blockage of blood vessels as found in most common heart attacks. When symptoms are mild and the inflammation hasn’t caused structural damage to the heart, we just observe these patients to make sure they recover.”
In rare cases, however, severe heart inflammation can lead to hospitalizations, critical illness or death, Wu noted.
Finding the cause
The new Stanford study — conducted in collaboration with The Ohio State University — aimed to determine the reasons for the myocarditis. The research team analyzed blood samples from vaccinated people, some with myocarditis and some without.
They found that those with myocarditis had two proteins in their blood, CXCL10 and IFN-gamma, which are released by immune cells. Those proteins then activate more inflammation.
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“We think these two are the major drivers of myocarditis,” said Wu. “Your body needs these cytokines to ward off viruses. It’s essential to immune response, but can become toxic in large amounts.”
In mouse and heart tissue models, high levels of these proteins led to signs of heart irritation, similar to mild myocarditis.
Prevention mechanism
“One of the most striking findings was how much we could reduce heart damage in our models by specifically blocking these two cytokines, without shutting down the entire (desired) immune response to the vaccine,” Wu told Fox News Digital, noting that a targeted, “fine‑tuning” immune approach might be enough to protect the heart.
Myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart, occurs in about one in 140,000 people who receive the first dose of the vaccine and one in 32,000 after the second dose. (iStock)
“This points to a possible future way to prevent or treat myocarditis in people who are at the highest risk, while keeping the benefits of vaccination,” he added.
The team also found that genistein, an estrogen-like natural compound found in soybeans, reduced inflammation in lab tests, but this has not yet been tested in humans.
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The findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
“This is a very complex study,” Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel told Fox News Digital. “Myocarditis is very rare, and the immune mechanism makes sense.”
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“Myocarditis is worse with COVID — much more common, and generally much more severe.”
Wu agreed, adding that COVID infection is about 10 times more likely to cause myocarditis compared to mRNA-based vaccines.
‘Crucial tool’
The researchers emphasized that COVID-19 vaccines have been “heavily scrutinized” for safety and have been shown to have an “excellent safety record.”
In rare cases, however, severe heart inflammation can lead to hospitalizations, critical illness or death. (iStock)
“mRNA vaccines remain a crucial tool against COVID‑19, and this research helps explain a rare side effect and suggests ways to make future vaccines even safer, rather than a reason to avoid vaccination,” Wu said.
“The overall benefits of COVID‑19 vaccination still clearly outweigh the small risk of myocarditis for nearly all groups.”
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The study did have some limitations, primarily the fact that most of the data came from experimental systems (mice and human cells in the lab), which cannot fully capture how myocarditis develops and resolves in real patients, according to Wu.
“This points to a possible future way to prevent or treat myocarditis in people who are at the highest risk.”
“These findings do not change what people should do right now, because our work is still at the preclinical (mouse and human cells) stage,” he said. “Clinical studies will be needed to confirm whether targeted treatments are safe and effective.”
The researcher also added that myocarditis risk could rise with other types of vaccines.
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“Other vaccines can cause myocarditis and inflammatory problems, but the symptoms tend to be more diffuse,” he said in the release. “Plus, mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines’ risks have received intense public scrutiny and media coverage. If you get chest pains from a COVID vaccine, you go to the hospital to get checked out, and if the serum troponin is positive, then you get diagnosed with myocarditis. If you get achy muscles or joints from a flu vaccine, you just blow it off.”
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Gootter-Jensen Foundation.
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