Update to CDC’s Covid-19 isolation guidance is imminent, source says

By CNN

Published January 4, 2022 6:46 AM

CNN

By Kaitlan Collins, CNN

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to update its guidance on the recommended isolation period imminently, according to a source familiar with the plan.

The agency, which could provide the update as soon as Tuesday, has faced pressure over the last week from outside medical experts to include a testing component in its new shortened isolation period. But it remains to be seen what the final language from the CDC will look like.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has steadfastly defended the agency’s decision not to include recommending a rapid test in the new guidance, telling CNN last week, “We opted not to have the rapid test for isolation because we actually don’t know how our rapid tests perform and how well they predict whether you’re transmissible during the end of disease.”

On CNN on Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, said the “likelihood of transmissibility is considerably lower” in the second half of the 10-day period following a positive result.

Walensky has also maintained that the CDC’s decision to not include a testing recommendation had nothing to do with the nationwide shortage of rapid tests.

“This decision really, from an isolation standpoint, had everything to do with the fact that we wouldn’t change our guidance based on the result of that rapid test. And you know that it didn’t have anything to do with any shortage at all, because we recommend rapid tests for those in quarantine,” Walensky said.

Despite that, there has been deep frustration inside the Biden administration in the days since the CDC announced it was shortening the isolation period for those who test positive for Covid-19 from 10 days to five with no testing component, according to multiple officials.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.