Yesterday, people were freaking out about the CDC’s newly revised quarantine guidelines for Covid-positive people. The previous guidelines were basically “quarantine for ten days as soon as you test positive.” The CDC just shortened the quarantines:
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday shortened the recommended times that people should isolate when they’ve tested positive for Covid-19 from 10 days to five days if they don’t have symptoms — and if they wear a mask around others for at least five more days. The CDC also shortened the recommended time for people to quarantine if they are exposed to the virus to a similar five days if they are vaccinated. People who are fully vaccinated and boosted may not need to quarantine at all, the CDC said.
“Given what we currently know about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to five days, if asymptomatic, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others,” the CDC said in a statement. People whose symptoms are getting better may also leave their homes after five days so long as their symptoms are improving, the CDC said. People who have a fever should stay home until the fever clears up, the CDC added.
“The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for five days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for five days to minimize the risk of infecting others.”
Basically, they’re saying that Covid-positive people are only infectious and “shedding” the virus in the first three days or so, and after that, you’re probably not infecting people even if you’re still Covid-positive. I don’t know, Omicron’s transmissibility has really thrown people for a loop, and I think scientists and doctors have been shocked by how many fully vaccinated and boostered people have gotten symptomatic Covid/omicron. If America had, like, an 85% vaccination rate, I would agree that perhaps quarantine rules could be loosened. But only 61% of Americans are fully vaccinated! This sounds awful. Meanwhile, there’s no longer a consensus on cloth masks??
With the omicron variant of COVID-19 continuing to spread at an alarming rate, some medical experts are urging everyone to reassess what masks they’re choosing to wear.
“Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There’s no place for them in light of omicron,” CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, said last week. “We need to be wearing at least a three-ply surgical mask,” she also said, referring to the standard disposable face covering available at most pharmacies and general goods stores. “You can wear a cloth mask on top of that, but do not just wear a cloth mask alone.”
The call to nix cloth masks conflicts with the mask-wearing recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which encourage masks that “have two or more layers of washable, breathable fabric” for the general public. Those recommendations were last updated on Oct. 25, about a month before the first cases of omicron were detected in South Africa.
Wen added that ideally, “you should be wearing a KN95 or N95 mask,” which also is in conflict with the CDC — who still says that masks “specially labeled ‘surgical’ N95 respirators … should be prioritized for healthcare personnel.”
That People story freaked me out more than the CDC story! I’ve been wearing cloth masks since March 2020 and I haven’t gotten any variant of Covid, or should I say, I haven’t been symptomatic if I ever had Covid. Help, I don’t want to buy three-ply surgical masks! WTF. Can I just wear two cloth masks on top of each other? Does that sound stupid?
Do you fam.
– The CDC— mary thee stallion (@iammarypryor) December 27, 2021
the cdc is just like uhhhh yeah it's totally up to you, I'm honestly down for whatever
— Allison O'Conor (@allisonoconor) December 27, 2021
The CDC:pic.twitter.com/s0h2d0PhXn https://t.co/9e1eThKIlC
— Rawan (@rawan) December 28, 2021
me on day 10 as the cdc announces this pic.twitter.com/gDqQmfvSM1
— David Mack (@davidmackau) December 27, 2021
Photos courtesy of Instar.
I used to have such a high opinion of the CDC. Wanted to work there as a little kid. The shenanigans these last two years have been incredibly disappointing. I wanted to blame the previous administration but this year has shown that they really are this clown show.
I used a cloth mask for awhile in the beginning of this sh*t storm but changed over to the KN95 masks. I’ll probably start doubling up on those now too.
I wear a KN95 and then cloth on top of that to really anchor it to my head (I can’t keep things on over my ears well).
The thing with masks is that at this point, getting anyone to wear any kind of mask at all is a struggle. If things are bad enough that you need to be KN95’ing it every day (apparently N95’s need to be fitted to your face by someone else, so I’m not going that route), how well is that going to work with people who are already kinda resistant? Telling them their masks aren’t good enough now…well, that goes about as well as literally everything else in pandemic, I suppose.
I gifted a friend of mine who works in retail some KN95’s and he’s worn one ONCE and he wears the same cloth one every single day. I want to say something, but what’s the point.
Well, for what it’s worth – f.e. in Germany you cannot travel by train in a cloth mask. I’m hearing for almost a year that cloth masks are not exactly 100% reliable.
And healthcare workers who test positive can still go to work as long as they’re asymptomatic! Who cares if patients or other healthcare workers get exposed, there are staffing shortages people! I’m sure they have appropriate ppe to prevent transmission 🙄
The CDC is choosing healthcare corporations over the physical health of healthcare workers and patients. They don’t care if we die as long as the hospitals stay open and C-Suites get paid.
Sorry, I’m bitter and angry.
Also, to add. I fully believe that N-95s and CAPRs have always been the only effective ppe for this virus. It has always been airborne, they just didn’t have the ppe supplies available to require it.
I have nothing but empathy for our healthcare workers and I know how overworked and overstressed they are. We need them more than ever right now. I’m just being realistic, if everyone who was asymptomatic or had a close contact to Omicron stayed home, nobody would be working and our entire hospital system would collapse. Clearly the CDC agrees with me which is which they had to lessen the restrictions.
LOL sorry but at this point, if everyone who is asymptomatic or exposed to Omicron stays home from their hospital jobs, people WILL die. The hospital needs workers or else there is going to be nobody there to treat anyone who comes in who just had a heart attack, got into an accident, has a gun shot wound etc. If I had the choice to get some possible exposure to an asymptomatic covid nurse or bleed to death I’m going to choose the former. Btw I’m fully vaxxed and just had Omicron and it was mostly nothing thankfully. Everyone go get vaxxed and do your best to stay safe but most of us are probably getting this variant
Thank you so much for your empathy to all the healthcare workers who have been put directly in harms way under extreme pressure for two years. Enjoy your rationing of care. LOL.
@BK, I hear you on the surge of this variant leading to reconsideration of asymptomatic vaxed and boosted frontline workers but for everyone? It’s just leading to less cooperation and more distrust and cynicism.
I’m glad to hear you fared well. I just found out I was exposed by 2 people at my Christmas gathering of 7 vaxed folks when 2 tested positive last night. I’m wary about reporting back to my teaching job next week after just 5 days if I test positive but it helps to have hope that being vaxed and boosted it might not be that rough. Unfortunately, the virus doesn’t treat everyone the same so I’m hoping to come out of this smell and taste in tact.🤞🏾
IT’s still dangerous. Mother Nature does not make exception for human error, period. She never has, and she never will.
It is our political leaders and technology companies that have created a a situation where a global emergency was responded to so poorly. It is lack of education and critical thinking for why so many people have been so gullible. All that politicized misinformation has created a bad situation for all of us. It is bc we are desperate, we are asking healthworkers to work when they are still contagious w a deadly disease, and getting flippant enough to think it’s ok, when it’s totally not. It absolutely, categorically is not safe or ok to expose others to this disease.,,but we’re going to do it bc we’re desperate and forced to – desperation and lack of alternatives doesn’t make it safe.
We, as a Nation, have made so many poor choices, and that’s has brought us to a situation of even MORE poor choices. I think at this point – if it meant getting out of the pandemic sooner, – I would be happy with empty hospitals today for a month bc ppl stayed home and got this virus under control for everyone’s TOMORROW.
My job (not healthcare) sent out new guidelines that say if you test positive and tell your GM then you don’t get paid while you’re out for quarantine. But! If you come to work with symptoms and get sent home then you get 50% of your pay because you were involuntarily sent home. I dont care if you have omicron, the flu, or just a simple cold- people need to keep their germs at home!
And our new guidelines also say that even if you were in direct contact with someone who tested positive you don’t have to quarantine unless you show symptoms. And yet this one spreads easily before you show symptoms? Cool. Cool.
I totally understand the resistance to surgical masks but, I hope this is helpful, I think you’ll find them easier to breathe through and consensus seems they are also safer. I like CrossTex Fog free — they’re hypoallergenic. I switched to these when Delta hit, and now I actually use N95s if I need to be an a group. Project N95 is a legit resource for these. Hopefully the next few months will be the worst of it…anyway, stay sane and safe everyone.
I just ordered from Project N95 last week and expect to get my N95s on the 29th.
I’m not sure if they’re lumping all cloth masks together since they’re not all the same. Many are just a layer or 2 of a breathable fabric, but many are multiple layers of fabric with a slot for 2.5 micron filter (I’ve been using the latter) but you need to make sure there aren’t gaps at the sides of the mask
The entire article from 12/24 is on CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/24/health/cloth-mask-omicron-variant-wellness/index.html
This was in the news last week – and after many, many paragraphs, it ended with single-layer cloth masks are bad. Multiple-layer masks made of high thread count offer protection, but not as much as the paper masks you can get at the doctor’s office or buy at the pharmacy. N95 are better, if they fit right, and 60% of KN95 masks are counterfeit, so watch out for that. I have a two layer cloth mask with a pocket for a filter and a wire on the top to help mold it on my nose. And I’ll wear a paper mask under my other multi-layer cloth masks.
The flip flopping by the CDC has contributed towards people being anti vax and not following any guidelines. And who can blame them. The CDC sold out a long time ago. I’d love to blame Trump but come on.
@GANDALFTHEMETH THIS 1000%!!!!😠 I told my school nurse that it may have taken me possibly having COVID under these new guidelines to no longer be supportive. I’m vaxed and boosted with Moderna and have been pretty cautious throughout as a teacher of small children. Having not seen my family for over 2 years and knowing I would be away from children and could separate from others I chose to do Christmas dinner with a local family/party of 7 everyone vaccinated. The dad frequently travels so had been testing negative for 2 days before Christmas had a scratchy throat Christmas Day but since he was negative thought it was a cold. Last night I found out he and a 17 yo tested positive. Mum and the 2 kids feel fine. I don’t know about the other guest.
I knew I was taking a risk but it seemed mitigated and I was fine with a circumstance where I wouldn’t be affecting others (I.e. students and their families). I contacted my school nurse about next steps and what I am NOT fine with is that it’s okay for me to roam about for 5 days (when I’m potentially in peak infectious stage), test on day 5, then only isolate if I’m positive for 5 days (during which I may still be infectious) BECAUSE IM VACCINATED and “they” seem to think that you are not as contagious when you are vaccinated. I can go about my business shopping, socializing, doing all the things until day 5 when I’m most infectious?!! I just saw a Fox News clip yesterday and no wonder people think this is a huge social experiment in transition to communism. It seems like there’s enough breakthrough cases to prove that vaccinated people are passing this around, you mean to tell me I’m good to be around unvaccinated, vulnerable children just because I’m vaccinated when I would have caught this from vaccinated people?!!!!
I get that with the surge we need people at work so asymptomatic frontline workers not isolating makes sense to me but it also seems we need to be even more cautions with this variant and so many breakthrough cases so should it really apply to everyone? I fully understand why so many people at this point will remain anti-vax, mask opposed, uncooperative, and the numbers of those parties are growing. I myself am hesitant about whether I should take an extra few days and the burden of a sub but it won’t be supported by my admin in light of this change. I take full responsibility for any variant I may or may not have contracted (yet hope I don’t lose my taste or smell😬) but now trying to make sense of what that means for me and others has me side-eyeing the CDC.😒
Sorry, but once Fox News starts making sense, you need to take a step back.
There is no conspiracy. The pandemic began during a time when we had incompetent leadership and that unfortunately did untold damage. The misinformation continues to spread. It’s up to all of us to get vaccinated, wear our masks, and not lose our heads.
It’s not flip-flopping!!!
Do people not understand that not only has our understanding of COVID changed over the past 2 years, but this is a ENTIRELY NEW VARIANT that we are working with!
Changing guidance based on changes in the disease and our ability to fight it is completely understandable!
What has REALLY contributed to people being anti-vax is people saying things like “the CDC sold out a long time ago”. Look at what YOU are putting into the world for others to consume!!!
well said Tiffany. And with science, the more time we have to observe and study the more we understand it. adapting the rules is a natural consequence of this.
All of these changes are impossible to keep up with and I’m exhausted. None of these people know what to do anymore and I’m beginning to suspect that some of these changes experts come up with are just to sound different enough that they get a sound byte.
I’m fully vaccinated but it’s too early for a booster. I double mask. One cloth mask that’s closest to my mouth and then I wear Kn95 on top. I buy both masks from Amazon but the Kn95 are the ones CB usually links in her Amazon posts. They’re nice and comfy. I social distance as much as possible and that’s it. If another variant worst than Omi pops up I might scream.
Can someone post the link that CB uses to those masks so we can get some and support the blog? Thanks!
Look for KN95 masks from Powecom–those are vetted.
I am tired too. I wish the virus was tired of us as well
The CDC has been unreliable at best and actively harmful at worst throughout the entire pandemic. And there’s seemingly been no accountability for it. The science changes constantly, so this rush to make policy changes based on the latest findings rather than an abundance of caution is perplexing. And it’s bad policy decision making.
If you want an abundance of caution, look to Canada. Bars stop serving alcohol in Ontario at 10pm, close at 11pm. Malls, stores, etc at 50% capacity. Gatherings of 10 or less inside. Even tougher restrictions in Quebec.
As a Canadian in Ontario, where we have a record number of cases, lol no. Our Premier just said he’ll let us know “in a couple of days” of schools will reopen on Monday. We’re no better off than we were literally exactly this time last year. The incompetence is staggering.
It just all feels confusing.
I really wanted to smack people when a few months ago they were all “no, you don’t need a booster shot!” That was just ridiculous. Why the hell did you have to nitpick and fight about that?
As for the masks, I can totally get why they had the confusion when they didn’t have enough N95’s for medical professionals, much less everyone. I get why they said what they said and then had to change it. But apparently we can’t deal with things changing to adjust to that.
I’ve known the whole time I needed a booster shot. When the news started talking about a 4th round of shots and saying people were shocked I wondered why the fuck they were so shocked because this is like a twice a year flu shot at this point. My husband’s work sent out an email saying everyone needed boosters and to upload your proof of it. My husband and son had trouble getting a booster because they weren’t 6 months to the date of the last shot but they were 180 days from it and the 6 months fell on Christmas so the pharmacist had to get exemptions for them.
I work in healthcare. We have been warned that there is a very real possibility that our entire healthcare infrastructure will collapse due to omicron. We are required to get boosters by end of January if we want to come to work (many if not most of us have done so). We barely have enough staff to do our critical work and yes that does include keeping the OR running. If omicron sweeps through our hospital and people have to stay home for ten days we will not be able to keep our ER, OR, Labour and Delivery, or cancer center open. The CDC had to weigh individual risk against the collapse of our healthcare infrastructure. I have good friends at the CDC and I would state emphatically they are NOT a clown show as commented above. They are an understaffed agency that has been underfunded for over a decade, trying their best to collect large scale data make decisions on how to save the most lives and keep our economy and healthcare system functioning in the face of an evolving, constantly mutating threat to our entire world. FFS consider what they are doing before popping off about how you expect timely perfection.
I agree with this. I watch their press conferences weekly, and as exhausted as I am with the changes and more than that the way the public uses the changes as an excuse to not be smart, science adapts.
Science adapts. It’s what it does. It changes and updates as the information changes and updates.
Bottom line, no one ever suggested cloth masks were okay except for Trump people because they were unwilling to do what was needed to get N95s to Americans, let alone to healthcare workers. They stockpiled them for red states and at Mara largo.
What they said was you should make or buy these masks so as not to take them from healthcare workers.
No expert ever said they actually worked as well as N95s.
Get N95s if you have any plan to go anywhere public for the next few months. Stay safe!
I also work in healthcare. It is pretty obvious science is not behind this, and it was only done for staffing shortages, at a time when the virus is more transmissible than ever through the new variant.
We were told to wear cloth masks with liners, but now they’re only facial decorations. We were told to quarantine and isolate for two weeks, but now we’re told five days! This isn’t safe.
The CDC also told us to stop wearing masks in May, when we weren’t anywhere near levels of vaccination necessary. Their communication and media use has been terrible. Yes, exacerbated by the right-wing outright lies, but come on. Every other advanced country has been leagues ahead of us. When we weren’t stealing vaccines from other countries under Trump, we were hoarding them for ourselves under Biden (I’m a progressive but I’m not here for retroactively gaslighting Americans about our leaders’ bad decisions).
Agree the reduction in time required to isolate is from staffing shortages across all industries.
“We were told to quarantine and isolate for two weeks, but now we’re told five days!”
But that is NOT what they are saying. It is 5 days ** if asymptomatic**, followed by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others.
A bit more from the CDC:
“The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for 5 days to minimize the risk of infecting others.”
The US has been donating vaccines to other countries. What’s your source on the hoarding of vaccines?
I completely agree, Notafan.
This is a new virus, it’s ever changing, we are dealing with a new variant. Guidance will continue to change and evolve and be updated until the virus has run it’s course…which might be a long time from now.
If they were saying the same thing on day 1 that they did on day 750, I’d worry that they’d learned nothing during the course of the pandemic, and were fighting last year’s battle.
Well I’m pretty upset about this as a school nurse. We don’t have a mask mandate because parents don’t want it, parents don’t want to vaccinate their kids, we’re open full time, the only thing we have is quarantine and they hate that too- I’m dreading going back in January. The local board of health probably will not have updated its guidelines- we follow them to a t. Can’t wait to be screamed at that the CDC says 5 days blah, blah, blah and that cloth makes don’t work, the CDC says. Last year (with masks required) I had one close contact turn positive all year. This year, without masks, I have one close contact turn positive for every positive case. I call BS that cloth masks don’t offer some protection.
Cloth masks work, just maybe not as well with omicron, is the impression that I get.
I wear masks my sister started making at the beginning. They are high thread count quilting fabric, 6 layers with the filter pocket (and I use the filters when at work face to face with unmasked preschoolers). When I see people wearing the blue/white paper masks with significant gaping on the sides and sliding off the nose, or flimsy one layer poly that they keep pulling off their noses I just shudder. I accept that I may need to start double masking, but none of the KN95 masks I have purchased will stay on well. So I’m planning on experimenting with double masking, but really questioning why the filters wouldn’t be as good.
WHAT ABOUT THE G**D**** UNDER 5 YR OLDS WHO CANNOT GET A VACCINE?
Sorry to yell, but I am so tired of our children’s safety not being factored into these decisions. Literally the only saving grace to this pandemic has been that children still are not as likely to catch Covid as adults, but WHY….when we are so close to a vaccine…ARE YOU CHANGING THE “RULES” NOW AND INCREASING THE CHANCES OF MY 2 YR OLD GETTING SICK?
I also would love to blame Trump for this, but honestly, I can’t. I’m just really disappointed.
I’ve been saying this about cloth masks for a while. They are legitimately porous.
I’m immunosuppressed so my doc told me to use a KF-94 or KN95 as soon as they were available. Cloth masks were never a good option for me. I like the KF-94 best, because they fit better on my chubby face and Korea has better quality control on those, so they are more reliable. When Omicron became a thing I ordered N95s, and now thats all I wear if I go out. I use 3M Aura or Makerite Sekura, but again that’s what fits my face. Everyone’s face is different. One place you can get the NIOSH certified N95 is Home Depot- they have a lot of stock now, and that’s where my dad has been getting his 3M masks (just don’t get any with the valve.) Project N95 has reliable masks, and the KF94 known as the AirQueen is a good, certified mask. I know cost is an issue for some so in that case wear a surgical mask under a triple ply cloth mask to hold the surgical mask tight or wear a mask brace to make the surgical mask fit tight. No gaps! Omicron is everywhere.
Thank you to all the health care workers who have done so much to keep us as safe as possible. You’ve worked extra shifts, tried to care for 2x the amounts of patients when your coworkers became ill, and have continually had to respond to tons of corona-pandemic illnesses. The personal costs that you and your loved ones have had to pay, the trauma of having to deal with incredibly sick patients, as well as violent and deluded individuals, and your own health issues… thank you for helping us!
+1 Well said, thank you.
Mask mandate should have never went away and never did in Canada.
This right here. They never should have been lax about masks. Wearing cloth is better than nothing, you can always double up, but I’m going to be looking for the strong ones now.
I hate to be a negative person here, but I don’t see this being contained anytime soon. People are going to have to rely on their own brains and not the CDC for how they want to handle this going forward.
Personally, I don’t want to get this. I will get every booster they roll out, 4, 5, 25 boosters, I don’t care. This is just how it is now on earth. You need protection to not get sick. It’s just that simple. Maybe because I watch horror and zombie movies, I’m handling this better, but I just feel like if you don’t want to get sick and possibly die, these are the things you need to do. Vaccines, boosters, masks and staying in if you can, are the safest routes to take. It is what it is.
I’d feel more comfortable if these decisions were backed by epidemiological studies. Instead, they seem to be backed by economic reality. I understand there needs to be a balance, but c’mon. Three days ago the airline CEOs (all virology whiz kids I’m sure) were lobbying the CDC for the 5 day isolation period. And sure enough, boom! It’s done. At what cost?
@Lionel. Correct. Airlines lobbied CDC successfully. No science involved here
They have to weigh the different risks. Scary but that’s how it is.
Ideally of course it would be better to quarantine for longer, but if omicron is SO contagious as to be basically unavoidable, the longer quarantine might not slow down the infection rate much.
If nearly everyone is going to be infected with omicron anyway, the benefit to infection rates from extended quarantine times may be so low that it isn’t worth the disruption to supply chains, essential businesses, healthcare and educational institutions that the longer quarantine period could cause.
We all still have to eat and if our infrastructures shut down, power, internet, food, water, roads, medical manufacture and supply, we are collectively in worse shape, if everyone is off work quarantining, than if people can return to work more quickly, and keep the infrastructure going.
I hate the idea too but I can see what the reasoning might be.
And if only people would get the damn vaccine, this strategy could be a winner, since vaccinated and boosted people seem to have pretty good protection against the worst outcomes with omicron. Not helpful, of course, for those who would like the vaccine but can’t get it or aren’t helped as much by it.
As for masks a cloth mask or any mask that doesn’t make a seal around the face, any mask that slips or that lets your glasses fog up, is of little use against an airborne virus that can linger in the air. Because you are breathing unfiltered air in and out. Any mask that isn’t making a seal, however good the material, isn’t going to be as good as a well-fitting mask. Good N95 or equivalent material AND a good seal is what you need.
It’s not quarantine for 5 days and that’s it. It’s quarantine for 5 days and wear a fitting mask for 5 days. And if you can’t do that-it’s still 10 days.
The cloth mask vs disposable mask has been a guidance since delta. Science adapts it’s SUPPOSED to change. That’s a feature not a bug. If we had the same guidelines as 2 years ago that would be the problem.
You gals at Celebitchy are so Covid responsible: this comment is not a criticism. But yes, Omicron underscore the increasing scientific understanding of the importance of a high-quality mask. I still let my healthy 15-year-old who is fully vaccinated rely on a 3-ply surgical mask, but as a 50 year old I am not going to group settings without a KN94 or 95 on my face. Cloth masks are estimated to be 40 to 60% useful, I take a 94 or 95% any day. A cloth mask with a smart idea in the beginning, these variants have adapted to outwit them.
I’m a US certified medical assistant and work in a Urgent Care facility. We are seeing between 90 to 100 + patients a day. We are basically caring for patients who have mild Covid or are a asymptomatic and would otherwise need to wait 13 hours to be seen in the ER. We wear N95 masks and it scares me that supplies could run short due to this new mandate. The aggression and self righteousness patients are displaying is ridiculous when we are literally risking our own health to provide the best care possible.
Thank you @Billie for everything you are doing and the sacrifices you are making every day to provide quality care to your pts under the most extenuating circumstances.
We want to get people back to jobs.
“If you are asymptomatic and you are infected, we want to get people back to the jobs, especially those with essential jobs,” Fauci said. “They can get back to the workplace, doing things that are important to keep society running smoothly.”