CDC plans to shorten recommended coronavirus quarantine period from 14 days to between 7 and 10 days

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning to shorten the recommended period of time Americans should quarantine for after potentially being exposed to the novel coronavirus.

Currently, the federal agency recommends that anyone who may have come into contact with a COVID-19 patients quarantine for 14 days.

However, officials are in the midst of finalizing new guidelines to reduce that period to between seven and 10 days, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Experts say they hope the updated recommendations encourage more people to observe the quarantine period rather than try to bypass it.

CDC officials are finalizing new guidelines suggesting people quarantine for between seven and 10 days rather than 14 days. Pictured: Scott Morrison in isolation 

‘We do think that the work that we’ve done, and some of the studies we have and the modeling data that we have, shows that we can with testing shorten quarantines,’ Dr Henry Walke, the CDC’s incident manager for COVID-19 response, told The Journal.

If a swab test comes back negative ‘then their probability of going on and developing an infection after that is pretty low.’

Health officials around the world chose 14 days due to the way viruses enters our cells and multiples. 

Once a person becomes infected, there is normally many days before the virus makes enough copies of itself so that he or she develops sumptom. 

The typical incubation period is about five days for COVID-19 with roughly 97 percent of people developing symptoms after 12 days.

Therefore, a 14-day quarantine is considered to a ‘safety’ threshold, that you are likely not contagious nor spreading to others. 

People under quarantine are expected to stay home and not go to work or school, or take their children to school.

For groceries, one option is to have family or friends drop off supplies you need. Alternatively, you can use grocers or online retailers to deliver packages. 

When it comes to garbage, people are asked to wait to take it out if possible.

However, many health experts have recommended a shorter period.

They believe some people may not attempt to quarantine due to the length of time and say a shorter quarantine is better than no quarantine at all.  

Walke says there is a possibility that some infections may be missed but that it’s worth the risk.

‘Hopefully, people would be better able to adhere to quarantine if it was, for example, seven to 10 days,’ he told The Journal.