The CDC released new guidance last night that cuts quarantine and isolation time from 10 days down to 5 days for most COVID-related exclusions.
Everyone COVID positive or with COVID symptoms (regardless of vaccination status) must isolate for 5 days. We’ll require employees to be fever-free for 24 hrs, with no respiratory or GI symptoms, and other symptoms resolving in order to return on Day 6.
We have posed several questions to the CDC’s Emergency Operations Committee and may modify exclusions and return to work practices further based on their additional guidance.
We know that staffing shortages are an issue. Most of our clients are moving ahead with allowing any employees currently excluded for 10 days to shorten their exclusion to 5 days as long as they’re symptom-free before returning.
For our Wellness Check clients, starting on the 30th, any previously excluded employees on a 10-day exclusion can take a new survey to get a green checkmark after 5 days without having to chat with anyone! Between now and the 30th, we ask that you communicate to managers that they should ONLY chat in about employees who are ALREADY able to return earlier, meaning they’re already at least 5 days out from symptom onset and they’re fully symptom-free. Those employees can chat back in directly to be cleared by our clinical team today and tomorrow.
New Definition of “Fully Protected”:
The CDC’s more significant change was in the definition of what makes someone “fully protected.”
People are now only considered fully protected if they:
Have been boosted, OR
Got 2 doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine within the last 6 months (More than 14 days, less than 6 months), OR
Got 1 dose of J&J vaccine within the last 2 months (more than 14 days, less than 2 months)
Anyone not fully protected will be out for 5 days after close contact exposure. More people will fall into this category than in prior close contact exclusions, but they’ll be out for a shorter time. Anyone fully protected doesn’t need to quarantine, but should wear a mask for 10 days.
Other COVID News:
It’s bad out there. Truly, astonishingly bad. Cases are up over 100% from 2 weeks ago, and every single day over the past week has been a record for our clinical team.
New York has seen childhood hospitalizations quadruple in less than 3 weeks. (NBC)
A new study of that Norwegian Christmas party that was an Omicron superspreader shows that the average incubation time is about 3 days. (Euro Surveillance)
New data from England shows boosters may start to wane in as little as ten weeks. (UK Health Security Agency)
The antiviral Remdesivir, an intravenous drug given mostly to seriously ill COVID patients in hospitals, could keep unvaccinated people out of the hospital if given on an outpatient basis. (MedScape)
Yankee Candle is being flooded with bad reviews saying candles don’t smell, something that might actually be attributable to Omicron and loss of smell. (Yahoo)
Researchers in South Africa have raised questions about nasal swab testing for Omicron and whether saliva testing may be more accurate for earlier detection for this variant. (Medxiv)
Today’s Health News:
The CDC is investigating two separate Listeria outbreaks linked to packaged salads. (CDC)
The FDA approved an exciting new cholesterol drug, the first RNA interfering medication to reduce LDL (bad cholesterol). (Novartis)
Best Questions:
Can we return employees who are currently out on a 10-day exclusion to work sooner?
Yes, as long as they’re at least 5 days out from their symptom start date (or positive test date if they’re asymptomatic), and they’re currently symptom free. We recommend requiring folks to be fever-free for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing meds, plus completely symptom-free of cough, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is both clinically sound and takes into account the optics of a sick person coughing as they interact with guests and clients. We know that staffing shortages are an issue, and you’re eager to get folks back to work, but we highly recommend being very careful to ensure that anyone coming back meets those criteria for symptoms.
For our Wellness Check clients, starting on the 30th, any previously excluded employees on a 10-day exclusion can take a new survey to get a green checkmark after 5 days without having to chat with anyone! Between now and the 30th, we ask that you communicate to managers that they should ONLY chat in about employees who are ALREADY able to return earlier, meaning they’re already at least 5 days out from symptom onset and they’re fully symptom-free. Those employees can chat back in directly to be cleared by our clinical team today and tomorrow.
Will the new definition of fully vaccinated exclude more employees? What can we do about that?
Yes - employees who are not boosted will no longer be considered fully vaccinated if they’re more than 6 months from Pfizer and Moderna or two months from J&J. You can encourage your employees to go get boosters and upload their updated cards ASAP.
Will 5 days be enough, or are employees still sick then?
We are seeing a large number of employees who seem to be getting sicker after a few days of mild symptoms, and likely will not be ready to come back after just 5 days. For now, our clinical team is extending those folks for an additional 3 days and checking in after that. Employees should not return if they still have any cough, fever, or GI symptoms.
Is there a testing option to get employees back sooner than five days?
Currently, we only recommend returning someone to work early if they have had no close contact with anyone sick with COVID-like symptoms or with confirmed COVID, if they have no symptoms, AND with a negative PCR-type test (not a rapid antigen test). Our team feels this option is relatively low risk for the small number of employees who are able to meet all 3 of those criteria within the 5 day window. Realistically, the chances of employees being able to return sooner than five days are very slim, since most people will have symptoms for most or all of that time or are also exposed to someone COVID+.
The OSHA ETS still says boosters aren’t part of their definition of fully vaccinated. Will OSHA revise that to match the CDC?
This is one of the biggest question marks still out there about the new CDC guidelines that update the definition of “fully protected.” The currently published OSHA vaccine or test mandate says that boosters and additional doses aren’t part of the definition of fully vaccinated, so as of right now, employees who fall into the “not fully protected” category for purposes of exposure-related work exclusions might NOT be required to do weekly testing. We expect that OSHA will address this shortly, but until they do, we’re sitting tight and not making any changes to our own Vaccination and Test Tracking system.
