By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As schools prepare to start a new year, the CDC is no longer advising students or staff members who are exposed to the virus to quarantine. Instead, the agency’s new advice is that people who were exposed wear face coverings for 10 days and get tested.
Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Robison met with school superintendents recently to talk about what the new guidelines mean for schools.
“Everybody should begin this year like we ended last year,” Robison said during a meeting of the Wood County Board of Health. “We want kids in school.”
The updated CDC guidance states that people exposed to those with COVID do not need to quarantine, but should wear a mask when in public.
Because of the testing and quarantine policy changes, the CDC stated that “test-to-stay” programs, which required exposed unvaccinated students to get tested frequently in order to attend school, are no longer necessary.
People who were exposed to COVID no longer need to quarantine unless they test positive or develop symptoms, per the CDC’s new guidelines.
COVID-19 continues to circulate globally, however, the new guidance is in response to the many tools available for reducing COVID-19 severity. According to the CDC, there is significantly less risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death compared to earlier in the pandemic.
This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps people move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts daily lives.
The CDC is recommending:
- Instead of quarantining, if you were exposed to COVID-19, you wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and get tested on day five.
- Regardless of vaccination status, you should isolate from others when you have COVID-19. You should also isolate if you are sick and suspect that you have COVID-19 but do not yet have test results. If your results are positive, follow CDC’s full isolation recommendations. If your results are negative, you can end your isolation.
- If you test positive for COVID-19, you should stay home for at least five days and isolate from others in your home. You are likely most infectious during these first five days. Wear a high-quality mask when you must be around others at home and in public. If after five days you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication, and your symptoms are improving, or you never had symptoms, you may end isolation. Regardless of when you end isolation, avoid being around people who are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19 until at least day 11. You should wear a high-quality mask through day 10.
The CDC’s focus is now on preventing medically significant cases of COVID, Robison explained.
“The responsibilities have been shifted almost entirely on the individual,” Robison said.
Board of health member Bob Midden stressed that pharmaceuticals are available to treat COVID early after a diagnosis.
“They can make a big difference,” he said.
Board of health member Rachel Bowlus expressed concern about Wood County being “lumped in” with four other counties – Lucas, Fulton, Ottawa, and Monroe in Michigan – by the CDC when determining the COVID risk level.
Bowlus did not want Wood County schools to base masking or vaccination mandates on the regional numbers, when the local COVID hospitalizations are very low. While some districts have required masks in the past for students and staff, no Wood County school districts have mandated vaccinations for staff or students.
Robison agreed that the numbers can appear confusing. But he stressed that Wood County Health Department bases its count of COVID hospitalizations on the number of people hospitalized “for COVID,” not “with COVID.”
Based on those numbers, Robison said Wood County does not need community masking.
Robison also updated the board on monkeypox, stressing that the risk to the general public is low.
“This is not like COVID,” he said. “This is eminently more controllable.”
Last week, Wood County Health Department reported that one case of monkeypox had been reported in the county several weeks ago. That person was reportedly exposed outside of Ohio and had no social interactions in the county during the period when the individual was contagious.
According to the health department, the case did not pose a risk to the general public. A few other suspected cases have been reported in the county and samples have been submitted for testing. There are currently no known active cases in Wood County.
The monkeypox virus is spreading mostly through close, intimate contact with someone who has monkeypox. Although cases have been transmitted through sexual contact, it is not considered a sexually transmitted infection, and measures people typically take to prevent STIs, such as wearing condoms, may not be effective in preventing transmission of monkeypox.
People should avoid close, skin-to-skin contact with people who have a new or unexplained rash or other symptoms that could be from monkeypox.
Wood County Health Department recently received 40 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, which can immunize up to 200 people. It takes six weeks for the vaccination to fully protect a person, Robison said.
Midden asked about public education efforts.
The health department is looking at “what messages to deliver and where we deliver them,” Robison said.
“We have an opportunity to stop this from being a pandemic,” Midden said.
