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After widespread pushback for shortening isolation guidelines for COVID-positive individuals from 10 days to five, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now considering adding testing requirements to isolation recommendations for asymptomatic patients.
“The CDC is very well aware that there has been some pushback about that,” Fauci said on This Week, quoted by NBC News. “Looking at it again, there may be an option in that, that testing could be a part of that.”
Fauci himself noted on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes that the new isolation rules stemmed from concerns that the high transmission rate of the omicron variant could have a “negative impact on our ability to maintain the structure of society.” It remains unclear what the CDC’s new testing rule could pertain, whether a positive test would require further isolation or whether an asymptomatic patient could leave isolation so long as they’re masked.