Why the CDC reduced COVID quarantine time despite omicron’s spread

Amna Nawaz:

The Omicron COVID variant continues to spread at lightning speed, upending plans to put the pandemic behind us. Infections are soaring, hospitals are hunkering down, and the White House is working to respond.

Stephanie Sy has our report.

Stephanie Sy:

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are now testing positive for COVID each day, and that is those who can get a test. Many spent Christmas weekend waiting in line for hours.

Anthony Rocha, Los Angeles Resident:

Out of precaution, an abundance of precaution really, and just to keep everyone around us safe, I feel it is best to get tested periodically here.

Stephanie Sy:

The Biden administration has pledged to provide 500 million at-home rapid tests for free, but they won't become available until next month.

President Biden and member of his COVID-19 task force met virtually with governors today. He defended his actions to date, while promising more federal support for the states.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: I know the lines have gotten very long in some states. That is why I ordered FEMA to set up pop-up sites in places with high demand to shorten the wait.

We went from no over-the-counter tests in January to 46 million in October, 100 million in November, and almost 200 million in December. But it's not enough, it's

Stephanie Sy:

Amidst the surge in cases and staffing shortages in many sectors of the economy, the CDC announced it would cut the time it recommends people isolate if they have COVID in half, from 10 days to five days, assuming they no longer have symptoms.

All of this as new infections have surged 80 percent in the past two weeks to well over 200,000 a day, due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. And the number of children infected has jumped 28 percent in two weeks. In New York City, where 50,000 people tested positive on Christmas Eve, COVID hospitalizations among children increased fivefold in recent weeks. Half of those are under the age of 5.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul pressed today for widening vaccinations.

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY):

We are encouraging the FDA to give approval for children under the age of 5 to be vaccinated, obviously at a lower dose, but we want to protect this younger population.

Stephanie Sy:

Meanwhile, New York City's vaccine mandate for private employers went into effect today, affecting nearly all businesses. Around the world, another 2,300 flights were canceled today, including at least 800 in the U.S., in large part due to employees calling out sick.

The nation's leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, suggested today a possible vaccine mandate for domestic air travel.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Adviser to President Biden: When you make vaccination a requirement, that's another incentive to get more people vaccinated. If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that's something that seriously should be considered.

Stephanie Sy:

Many countries already require vaccination documents for international travelers.

Israel, which has some of the strictest COVID policies, is also on the cutting edge of vaccinations. Today, it began testing the effects of a fourth shot of the Pfizer vaccine in health care workers, a move public health experts are weighing elsewhere.

For a deeper look at the rapidly spreading Omicron variant and its impact, I'm joined by Dr. Megan Ranney. She's an emergency physician and academic dean at Brown University's School of Public Health.

Dr. Ranney, I know you were working in the E.R. all day, so I especially thank you for joining us with your time.

So, caseloads, as you know personally, at hospitals are surpassing what we saw last winter. But, so far, death and hospitalization aren't tracking as closely with the case rates we have seen in previous surges.

Dr. Ranney, does that jibe with what you are seeing on the ground?

Dr. Megan Ranney, Emergency Physician, Brown University:

It does.

Listen, even today, the only people that I admitted to the hospital for COVID were people who were unvaccinated. And thanks to our tremendous vaccination campaign across the United States over the last year, about 60 percent of us have received both shots and a significant percentage have gotten those boosters.

That is protecting us even in the midst of this surge. On top of that, there is some preliminary evidence that Omicron itself may be slightly more mild.

But let's not kid ourselves. Even a mild COVID infection, particularly for the unvaccinated, is still really unpleasant. You are still looking at days out of work, although fewer days than prior to today's CDC announcement. You are looking at feeling completely under the weather.

You may be looking at long COVID symptoms. Again, vaccines protect against all of those things, but, for the unvaccinated, COVID remains potentially deadly.

Stephanie Sy:

And given that Dr. Fauci has called it extraordinarily contagious, you also have to look that just a small percentage of a really big number can be a lot of people.

Is your hospital overwhelmed? Is it overrun with COVID patients? Because you have previously described Rhode Island as having entered a — quote — "disaster level of care."

Dr. Megan Ranney:

Rhode Island is in an extraordinary bad situation. This is not purely because of COVID. This is a problem that has been brewing for months and months.

We have folks that put off normal preventive care over the last year-and-a-half because of fears of COVID or because the doctor's office being closed. We have people who have put off needed surgeries because of delays in anything that was nonemergent.

And we have huge staff vacancies because of burnout and moral injury, as well as, of course, because some people can go and make more money working in other states. Our hospital shut down any elective surgeries a couple of weeks ago and today shut down any nonemergent surgeries. We are out of ICU beds.

Our waiting time in the E.R. are truly through the roof. I can't even begin to describe what it is like right now working as an E.R. doc, again, not just because of COVID, but because of everything and how broken the health care system really is.

Stephanie Sy:

And that is in a state, Rhode Island, that has more than a 75 percent vaccination rate, which I understand is among the highest in the country.

You said that most of the folks that you saw in the E.R. are unvaccinated. In fact, I think you said all. But we do know that Omicron is affecting those that have been vaccinated and boosted.

Is that happening among the staff? Is that contributing to the staff shortage? Are you seeing nurses and doctors also come down with this variant?

Dr. Megan Ranney:

So, the staff shortage predated the Omicron surge.

We have about three times as many vacancies in my health care system right now as we normally would this time of year, again, because a lot of folks left bedside care, retired early because COVID took so much out of them.

We are seeing cases among the vaccinated, but they are, by and large, quite mild. I have six fellow physician colleagues that were out today alone because of cases caught in the last week. But for those of us that are vaccinated, this really is more like a cold.

It is something short-lived, quite survivable, and you are going to it be able to get back to work quickly. Our staffing shortages are due to much more than just Omicron.

Stephanie Sy:

So, do you agree?

The CDC last week shortened the isolation time for those hospital staff that do test positive for COVID from 10 days to five days with a negative test. And, today, they did that for the wider public. Is that going to help? Do you agree with that?

Dr. Megan Ranney:

So, I think it is important that we follow the science.

And there is emerging strong evidence that, particularly for those of us who are vaccinated, if we are asymptomatic, after five days, we're no longer infectious. It is right to allow those folks to get back out into the world, not just to work, but also to play, to school, to family gatherings, to the grocery store, right?

Don't keep people at home for nothing. The thing about the new CDC guidance it does give me a little bit of pause is that it applies equally to the unvaccinated and vaccinated. It says very specifically that you should continue to wear a mask for another five days after you finish that isolation period.

We know already that the unvaccinated are less likely to mask. That does, unfortunately, put the rest of us a bit at risk.

Stephanie Sy:

A quick question as we head into the New Year's holiday.

Any advice there as you see the E.R. continue to flood with patients? And is there enough testing in Rhode Island?

Dr. Megan Ranney:

There isn't enough testing anywhere in this country.

I have a friend, a fellow physician who got sick over the weekend. She and her entire family, with the exception of one family member, have tested positive on rapid tests. They are literally unable to get a PCR right now. That is not acceptable at this point in the pandemic.

There is so much more that needs to be done both on state and federal levels to shore up the health care system, to shore up testing, and to help us get through to the other side of this surge.

Stephanie Sy:

Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician in Rhode Island, thank you so much for joining us on the "NewsHour."

Dr. Megan Ranney:

Thank you.