A COVID-19 expert who strongly criticized the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention's revised quarantine and isolation recommendations late last month is now arguing his son's experience shows the federal agency's guidance isn't "ready for prime time."
Dr. Bob Wachter, Chair of the UCSF Department of Medicine, revealed in a 25-tweet thread on Saturday that his 28-year-old son contracted the coronavirus as the omicron variant continues to surge. Wachter told KCBS Radio's Jeff Bell and Patti Reising in an interview on Monday it was "worthwhile seeing it up close and personal" as COVID-19 cases rise in San Francisco, the Bay Area and beyond.
Wachter tweeted Monday that his son tested positive for COVID-19, five days after the initial onset of symptoms. Under the CDC's revised guidance released last month, his son would've been able to return to work in his customer service role – albeit while wearing a well-fitting mask – had he not tested at all because his symptoms were improving and his fever abated.
The agency's guidance, unlike California's, doesn't recommend a negative test for symptomatic people to leave isolation after five days.
Wachter, who praised the California Department of Public Health's implementation of new rules late last month, said the federal guidance was "sort of silly" and "didn't make a lot of sense."
"It just shows that some of the rules that we're dealing with, and the guidelines, really aren't ready for prime time," he told Bell and Reising.
Now, Wachter said his son will test again on Tuesday, at which point both of them would feel comfortable if the 28-year-old returned to work following a negative test. Had his son been working in an understaffed emergency room, Wachter tweeted on Monday afternoon that the decision might not have been so simple.
Wachter remains a leading local voice as the pandemic enters its third year, but his mind couldn't help but drift to the worst-case scenarios after learning his fully vaccinated and boosted son had tested positive for COVID-19. His stress only increased as he saw, firsthand, how San Francisco was experiencing a shortage of available tests and treatments.
"Everybody's going through this, and it was worthwhile seeing it up close and personal so I have even more empathy than I've had all along," Wachter said of his son testing positive for COVID-19. "But this is a hard thing to do, and there are hard decisions to be made, and your emotions tend to run a little bit wild."
