Indiana health officials say new COVID-19 quarantine guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should help health care workers, teachers and students get back to work and school quicker.
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Previously, the CDC said if you’re exposed to someone with the virus, you should quarantine for 14 days. But new guidance says, if you show no symptoms, you can end quarantine after 10 days.
And State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said if you test negative for COVID-19 on days five, six or seven of your quarantine (and don’t have symptoms), you can end that quarantine at just seven days.
“I really think that this is going to help us get more kids back in school sooner, so I’m very, very excited about that," Box said. "And I think it’s going to give a comfort to our health care workers who are going back more quickly.”
Box said for those who can effectively work from home, however, it’s still a good idea to go the full 14 days in quarantine.
“Because that has – in medicine, we never say zero and 100 percent – but it’s close to zero percent chance you’re going to become infective in that time period and infect someone,” Box said.
The CDC publicly issued the new guidance Wednesday.
Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.