THE Centers for Disease Control is planning to shorten the period for which Americans are told to quarantine after being exposed to the coronavirus, according to reports.
Officials are reportedly set to publish new guidelines lowering the recommended period from 14 days to between seven and ten days.
People will be asked to undergo a test at the end of the shortened period, but will be allowed to come out of isolation if it comes back negative, the Wall Street Journal reported.
It is hoped the change will encourage more people to adhere to the rules instead of trying to circumvent them.
Speaking to the Journal, Dr Henry Walke, the CDC’s incident manager for Covid-19 response, said research suggested the change could be introduced safely.
“We do think that the work that we’ve done, and some of the studies we have and the modeling data that we have, shows that we can – with testing – shorten quarantines,” he said.
He added that, if a person’s swab test is negative, then “their probability of going on and developing an infection after that is pretty low”.
A quarantine period of 14 days after exposure has been recommended to citizens in countries around the world.
Anyone isolating was asked not to leave their home unless it was absolutely essential and to separate themselves from other members of their household where possible.
The 14-day period was based on the fact that around 97 percent of all coronavirus patients have been found to develop symptoms within 12 days of exposure.
But research suggests that around 50 percent of all people who caught coronavirus developed symptoms within five to six days – also thought to be the period during which a person is most infectious.
The World Health Organisation continues to recommend the 14-day period, but the advice is currently being reviewed, according to the Journal.
A number of European countries have already lowered their recommended quarantine periods.
France cut it from 14 to seven days, while Germany, Spain, and Belgium all reduced it to ten.
Dr Walke acknowledged that it was possible some cases would be missed under the new regime, but said it could be worth it if the change improved compliance with the guidelines.
The report comes as the number of new cases being recorded continues to climb across the US.
The average number of positive tests each day now stands at around 175,000, up from around 40,000 in the middle of September.
The number of cases diagnosed in the US since the start of the pandemic now stands at over 12.9million, over one fifth of the global total.
Around 265,000 deaths have been recorded so far, a figure currently rising by around 1,500 per day.
