The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
have trimmed the time people infected with COVID-19 need to isolate.
When the pandemic began, those who tested
positive for the coronavirus were told to isolate for 14 days.
That has since been reduced to 10 days and
more recently, to just five days for those who don't have any symptoms.
"I believe the CDC came up with this sort
of recommendation because they wanted to balance the need for isolation with
infectious folks who have COVID and also the need to not interfere too much
with the economy is general," says Dr. Adrian Popp, an infectious
disease expert at Huntington Hospital Northwell.
The new recommendations say individuals with
no symptoms can isolate after five days, but must wear a mask everywhere, even
at home, for at least five more days.
Popp says the latest data shows vaccinated
people are most infectious one to two days prior to developing symptoms to
about five days after developing symptoms.
However, he says that it may be different for
unvaccinated individuals, so mask wearing for the entire 10 days is
important.
"For unvaccinated folks unfortunately,
they can be infectious beyond the five days, so the CDC came up with
this," Popp says.
The doctor says anyone concerned about
infecting others can take a test to see if they are positive.