The Trudeau government has no plans to follow the U.S. by reducing COVID-19 quarantine times to five days, CTV News reports today.
“The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) told CTVNews.ca in a statement on Wednesday that officials are aware of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) updated guidance and the body will inform Canadians should there be similar steps taken north of the border.
“While isolation and quarantine rules may vary across the country based on the directives of local public health experts, federal authorities recommend an isolation period of a minimum of 10 days from the onset of symptoms for a symptomatic case, or from the time of receiving a positive test for an asymptomatic case,” the network said.
The Atlanta-based CDC surprised some observers this week by slashing the recommended U.S. isolation or quarantine period from 10 days to five. They also said anyone who leaves quarantine should wear a proper, form-fitting mask in public for five more days.
The CDC said most people are contagious in the first day or two after contracting the virus, even though they may be asymptomatic, and then again for three days after that.
“We followed numerous areas of science in making this important decision,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. “One of course was how the virus behaves, how much virus do you still have that you could potentially transmit after five days and we generally know that most of your transmission potential happens in those one to two days before you have symptoms and those two to three days after.
“So by the time five days of isolation have occurred, you probably have about 85 to 90 per cent of all of our transmission potential behind you.
“We want to make sure there is a mechanism by which we can safely continue to keep society functioning while following the science,” Walensky told Associated Press this week.
