Stanford Study Shows U.S. CDC Guideline Of 5-Day Isolation Period For COVID-19 Is Inadequate Especially When BA.2 Variants And Its Sub-Lineages Are Concerned!
Source: Medical News -COVID-19 Isolation Period Oct 19, 2022 2 years, 1 month, 3 days, 15 hours, 13 minutes ago
A new study by researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine, California-USA has demonstrated that current recommendation by the U.S. CDC for a 5-day isolation period for anyone that test positive for COVID-19 to prevent spread of the disease is inadequate especially when the BA.2 variants and its sub-lineages are concerned!
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Surprisingly, one of the non-scientific based decisions the CDC made during this pandemic was when the agency reduced the duration of isolation after a positive COVID test from 10 days to 5 days and did not require a negative antigen test to end isolation.
Numerous studies to date, have suggested that although the positive antigen tests are not perfect, were a decent proxy for infectivity.
https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/JCM.00896-21
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02197-z
The whole objective of isolation is to keep other community members safe and hence it makes sense to use a readily available test to know when it might be safe to go out in public again.
The 5-day isolation period day that was proposed by the U.S. CDC and also adopted by many other countries is not the least helping to stop community transmissions. Many individuals are symptomatic long after that point and are still able to shed the virus and help spread the disease.
This new study by researchers from Stanford is yet one of the many studies that validates the fact the 5-day isolation period is simply nonsense and does nothing to stop community transmissions.
In this case series, 268 collegiate student athletes who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 underwent rapid antigen testing starting 7 days after the initial positive test. At 7 days, the results of testing were still positive in 27% of the individuals tested, with a higher percent positive in symptomatic individuals and those infected with the Omicron BA.2 variant.
More than half of those positive on day 7 tested positive again on day 8, and more than half of those tested positive again on day 9. By day 10, they were released from isolation without further testing.
The study findings suggest that use of rapid antigen testing to aid in the decision to end isolation may be needed to prevent individuals with infection from leaving isolation prematurely.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Jama Network Open.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2797450
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened the recommended isolation period for SARS-CoV-2 infection from 10 days to 5 days in December 2021. It is unknown whether an individual with the infection may still have a positive result to a rapid antigen test and potentially be contagious at the end of this shortened isolation period.
The aim of the study was to estimate the proportion of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection whose rapid antigen test is still positive starting 7 days postdiagnosis.
The study team analyzed student athletes at a National Collegiate Athletic Association Divisio
n I university campus who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between January 3 and May 6, 2022. Individuals underwent rapid antigen testing starting 7 days postdiagnosis to determine whether they could end their isolation period.
The study team deployed rapid antigen testing 7 days after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The team also deployed besides rapid antigen testing, collation of data on symptom status and also SARS-CoV-2 variant identification via campus wastewater analysis.
A total of 264 student athletes (140 [53%] female; mean [SD] age, 20.1 [1.2] years; range, 18-25 years) representing 268 infections (177 [66%] symptomatic, 91 [34%] asymptomatic) were included in the study.
The study findings showed that of the 248 infections in individuals who did a day 7 test, 67 (27%; 95% CI, 21%-33%) tests were still positive. Patients with symptomatic infections were significantly more likely to test positive on day 7 vs those who were asymptomatic (35%; 95% CI, 28%-43% vs 11%; 95% CI, 5%-18%; P < .001).
Lead author, Dr Jessica Tsao, MD; from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine told Thailand
Medical News, “Interestingly, individuals with the BA.2 variant were also significantly more likely to test positive on day 7 compared with those with the BA.1 variant (40%; 95% CI, 29%-51% vs 21%; 95% CI, 15%-27%; P = .007).”
The study findings clearly showed that rapid antigen tests remained positive in 27% of the individuals after 7 days of isolation, suggesting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–recommended 5-day isolation period may be insufficient in preventing ongoing spread of disease.
Further studies are needed to determine whether these findings are present in a more heterogeneous population and in subsequent variants.
The study team concluded, “More than a quarter of individuals in this case series had a positive RAT 7 to 10 days after their initial positive test, with even higher percentages of persistent positivity in individuals with symptomatic infections and the newer BA.2 variant. The study finding suggests that a substantial number of individuals may still be contagious after completing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–recommended 5-day isolation period.”
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