Category Archives: Quarantine

Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Coronavirus, Covid 19, Quarantine, Re-opening, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

SFGATE: “Solano guidance is not completely in line with assessments of the virus by the Centers for Disease Control”

Solano County: COVID patients may return to work after 10 days, even with ‘lingering symptoms’

SFGATE, by Alyssa Pereira, August 5, 2020
FILE: Hand washing stations are posted for guests at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on July 2, 2020 in Vallejo, which is located in Solano County. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / 2020 Getty Images
Hand washing stations are posted for guests at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on July 2, 2020 in Vallejo, which is located in Solano County. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Solano County issued new guidance to residents Tuesday, stating that employees in the county who test positive for COVID-19 may return to work after isolating for 10 days, whether or not they continue to exhibit symptoms of the disease caused by the virus. Typical symptoms may include coughing, fever, or respiratory issues.

“Anyone who tested positive and has isolated for 10 days from the date that their symptoms began is no longer infectious, even if some may have lingering symptoms,” said Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County Health Officer. “We understand that businesses have concerns about employees returning to the workplace; however, re-testing is unnecessary to prove that employees can no longer spread the disease. Once the 10-day isolation has been completed, employees may return to work.”

Matyas added that there is no need for that person to re-test at the end of the 10-day isolation, as “most people with confirmed COVID-19 will continue to have positive test results for several weeks.”

Solano County’s guidance is not completely in line with assessments of the virus by the Centers for Disease Control. A survey of available data found that people with “mild to moderate” COVID-19 symptoms are infectious for no longer than 10 days. However, those with more serious “severe to critical” symptoms have been found to be contagious up to “20 days after symptom onset.”

Additionally, the CDC recommends that a person who tests positive for the disease and exhibits symptoms may end isolation after 10 days if their fever has returned to normal for at least 24 hours and other symptoms have improved.

“These findings strengthen the justification for relying on a symptom based, rather than test-based strategy for ending isolation of these patients, so that persons who are by current evidence no longer infectious are not kept unnecessarily isolated and excluded from work or other responsibilities,” the CDC added.

Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Quarantine, Solano County CA

Bay Area Counties recommend 10 to 20 day isolation for COVID-19 patients

Here’s how long most Bay Area counties are recommending COVID-19 patients isolate before returning to work

Those who were hospitalized, or those with underlying conditions, should isolate for 20 days.
ABC7 News, by J.R. Stone, August 4, 2020

SOLANO COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) — Most Bay Area counties are now recommending a 10-day isolation for COVID-19 patients instead of a 14-day quarantine before they come back to work.

The CDC is recommending this and it is also being backed by doctors from UCSF and Stanford.

“For the healthy individual, 10 days will be plenty and we just haven’t seen the evidence for spread after that period of time,” says Dr. Yvonne Maldonado with Stanford Health Care.

New CDC guidelines say those with coronavirus who have mild to moderate symptoms should isolate for 10 days from the start of symptoms or a positive test.

Those who were hospitalized, or those with underlying conditions, should isolate for 20 days.

“But it’s not everyone and there are still other pieces that have to be met, but the 10-day rule is still going to work a lot better for some of our workers,” says Dr. Ralph Gonzales of UCSF.

ABC7 News talked with a business owner in Benicia, who said, “10, 14, or 20 days. It’s hard to make sense of anything right now.”

“I had nothing given to me as a business owner, I don’t know, we’re doing the best we can and the rules change week by week,” says Dennis Cullen who owns Cullen’s Tannery Pub.

In fact, multiple counties are recommending people don’t get a second test before going back to work because dead COVID-19 virus cells can sometimes linger two to three months in patients, even if they’ve recovered.

“Some people do shed virus in our study up to two months, but whether or not that is infectious virus or not, that is unclear,” according to Dr. Maldonado.

Doctors tell us the number of people who are still contagious after that ten or 20-day period is so small, they don’t find it to be a major threat going forward.