CDC shortens Covid-19 isolation advice to match other viruses

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention photo

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated guidance for how long people need to isolate when they get Covid-19, to match the guidance for dealing with other viruses. 

"While every respiratory virus does not act the same, adopting a unified approach to limiting disease spread makes recommendations easier to follow and thus more likely to be adopted and does not rely on individuals to test for illness, a practice that data indicates is uneven," the CDC said in a news release.

As of March 1, people who test positive for Covid-19 no longer need to stay isolated for five days, but instead can return to their regular activities if their symptoms are mild and improving and they have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of a fever-reducing medication. 

"This advice is similar to what has been recommended for flu for decades and will help reduce the spread of Covid-19 and other respiratory viruses during the most contagious period after infection," says a separate advisory. 

Once people get back to their normal activities, the CDC acknowledges that some people may still be contagious. Because of this, it calls on people to take additional precautions for the next five days, such as gathering outdoors when possible, practicing good hygiene, keeping a distance from others and wearing a well-fitting mask. 

The CDC says it is making updates to the recommendations now because the U.S. is seeing far fewer hospitalizations and deaths associated with Covid-19 and because there are more tools than ever to combat flu, Covid and respiratory syncitial virus (RSV). 

“Today’s announcement reflects the progress we have made in protecting against severe illness from Covid-19,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, the CDC director, said in the release. “However, we still must use the commonsense solutions we know work to protect ourselves and others from serious illness from respiratory viruses—this includes vaccination, treatment, and staying home when we get sick.”

This updated guidance is intended for community settings only. There are no changes to guidelines for nursing homes and health-care facilities.

Beshear says he may have to close restaurants and bars; pleads against runs on stores; CDC advises against gatherings of 50+

As news develops in Kentucky about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this page will be updated. Official state guidance is at https://kycovid19.ky.gov.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

• Gov. Andy Beshear said today he may order closure of large bars and restaurants if they keep drawing big crowds at they have done in advance of St. Patrick's Day. "If you go out and get in a place with 100-plus people, you frustrate those efforts" to stop spread of the virus, he said. Noting that Ohio has ordered such closures (as have other states), he said, "If we cannot show responsible practices in how we social-distance, then I will be forced to do the same."
• Beshear said the other place where Kentuckians "have to be better" is avoiding runs on supplies, leaving store shelves empty. "We have to understand that we are all going to have to change our lifestyles in different, fundamental ways. . . . If we are going to change the curve in what we expect of these cases, if we are going to protect our loved ones who are out there, we have to be willing to change our practices, and everybody has to be a good teammate."
• Further signaling that he will close day-care centers, Beshear said health-care workers would need exemptions. The day before, he asked the centers to make plans to close on 72 hours' notice.
• Asked if he had any reports on how churches had complied with his requests to cancel services, in light of reports that many did not, Beshear didn't say, but indicated why he made the request: He said a church in Montgomery County may have helped spread the virus, and a Harrison County church was directly linked to two cases there.
• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that there be no gatherings of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks.
• The number of covid-19 cases in the state has risen to 21, with new cases in Clark and Jefferson counties, after 254 tests. Beshear said at 4 p.m. Sunday that 19 more tests are in process.
• Beshear said one patient is not expected to recover, but "The coronavirus is not the only factor" in that case. He declined to give details until the case is over.
• “Mental health is going to be critically important in getting through this,” Beshear said. “Make sure that you do things that help your mental health.” The day before, a state mental-health expert gave detailed advice on that, and newspapers ran stories about helping children cope.
• The governor said he has tested negative for the virus. He said he qualified for testing as a "mission-critical" person after someone at a March 7 fundraiser for the Speed Art Museum in Louisville tested positive. That person appeared to be philanthropist Christy Brown, who acknowledged Sunday that she had tested positive.
• Also testing positive in Louisville was “Mary Moss Greenebaum, the leader of the Kentucky Author Forum, who also attended the Speed Ball,” the Courier Journal reported. She told the paper that an initial test at the University of Louisville was negative, but “one wise doctor was skeptical enough — given my symptoms — to insist that the test be done again and it turned out positive.”
• U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, said he would self-quarantine for 14 days because he "was in the presence of an individual who has since tested positive for covid-19. . . . I have been tested and am awaiting results."
• Centre College in Danville extended its spring break by a week and said all classes would be online for the rest of the semester.

Beshear urges employers who don't offer paid sick leave to do so, to keep sick workers at home and prevent spread of coronavirus

Gov. Andy Beshear (Lexington Herald-Leader photo)

Gov. Andy Beshear wants Kentucky employers who don't allow paid sick leave to change that policy, to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

“We have got to make sure that people stay home when they’re feeling sick until we move past this,” Beshear told journalists, adding that it is only a matter of time before Kentucky sees a case of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

“I would encourage all those businesses that are out there that don’t currently offer paid sick leave, absolutely consider it for the next several months,” Beshear said.

The Courier Journal reports, "Kentucky sits in a region with some of the lowest rates of access to paid sick leave in the country, according to Jason Bailey, head of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. Some 62% of private sector workers in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi receive paid sick days, compared with 91% of workers in the Pacific Northwest, Bailey said. That's partly because Kentucky has a greater number of low-wage employers — factories and retailers."

But it’s also because the 2017 General Assembly banned local governments from imposing sick leave requirements, Bailey told the Louisville newspaper: “Cities like Louisville are actually barred from doing that. So that creates additional risk because a lot of those workers who do not have paid sick days are also the ones who are in those jobs with regular contact with the public. … We have created a situation through that and other policies that increase our risk.”