December 4, 2020
Skagit Public Health adopts guidance to align with CDC’s new quarantine guidelines.
Today, Skagit Public Health announced that they will adopt the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) and the Washington State Department of Health’s new guidance on quarantine timeframes. You can see the CDC’s full guidance here, and the Washington State Department of Health’s press release here.
The CDC, Washington State Department of Health and Skagit Public Health continue to encourage those who have been known close contacts of COVID-19 cases to quarantine for 14 days. However, there are certain circumstances that could allow for a shortened quarantine. These include:
- If a person who is in quarantine has no symptoms, quarantine can end after Day 10. The person still needs to monitor for symptoms through day 14. If they develop symptoms, they need to isolate immediately.
- If a person who is in quarantine receives a negative COVID-19 test and has no symptoms, quarantine can end after Day 7 if they are able to get tested within 48 hours before ending quarantine. The person still needs to monitor for symptoms through day 14. If they later develop symptoms, they need to isolate.
- Ideally, an individual still quarantines for 14 days from the last day they were exposed. If they live with or care for someone who has COVID, that person has to finish their isolation before calculating quarantine end dates.
“I want to be clear- there is still risk associated with ending quarantine earlier than 14 days,” said Skagit Health Officer Howard Leibrand. “But, research has shown that it is a very small portion of the population that becomes contagious between 10-14 days after exposure, and we know that 14 days is an incredibly burdensome amount of time for people to properly quarantine. We want to lessen the burden of the pandemic wherever possible.”
More information on Skagit County’s COVID-19 response is available at www.skagitcounty.net/coronavirus. If you have questions or need additional information, call Public Health at 360-416-1500.
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