As COVID cases appear to be ticking up again in the New Orleans region some are surprised to find out they should still be quarantining for five days after testing positive per the CDC.
It’s been more than two years since SARS-CoV-2 landed in the US and while the quarantine period has significantly shortened since then, days of isolation can still be highly disruptive. But is it still necessary?
Yes.
“If you’re testing positive for COVID, especially if you are testing positive with a rapid test for example, you are literally shedding virus,” Tulane Epidemiologist Dr. Susan Hassig told WWL.
It’s not convenient, and for those without paid sick leave it can be financially devastating, but Hassig said isolating while carrying an infectious respiratory illness is good general public health policy. The hope though is that in the future the isolation period will shrink thanks to post-infection therapeutics, but like other treatments, it won’t be an instant fix.
“Think about it in terms of when you take an antibiotic for a bacterial infection, if you have a child that has some kind of infection it is usually 48 hours before they are allowed to return to school,” said Hassig.
It may be frustrating to know that even years into the future COVID will still keep you cooped up at home, but Hassig said the cultural expectation that you can go out in public while ill is bad news even for less contagious infections.
“We’ve had a lot of historic bad behaviors that maybe COVID will break like going into the office when you are symptomatic with some kind of respiratory infection,” said Hassig.
