i m laura coates in for don lemon. omicron is surging across this country. the u.s. is now averaging more than 200,000 new covid cases every single day. that s the highest number since january. that as there is big news tonight for anyone who has tested positive for covid. the cdc announced shortening the recommended time you should isolate if you test positive but don t have symptoms. cutting that period of isolation now from ten days to now five days. but you should still wear a mask around others for at least five more days. tonight, dr. fauci is saying the new guidelines are a good idea to get people back to work and keep our society running smoothly. it just makes sense if you keep them out for five days, keep them ice solated for five s and get them back doing their
the cdc now says your isolation period is cut from ten to five days. this change, regardless of your vaccination status, by the way, was made after scientific studies showed the majority of covid transmission is coming during the early stages of the illness. the change also comes at a crucial point with work forces across the country feeling the pinch of staffing shortages. with the sheer volume of new cases that we are having and that we expect to continue with omicron, one of the things we want to be careful of is that we don t have so many people out. i mean, obviously if you have symptoms you should not be out. but if you are asymptomatic and you are infected, we want to get people back to the jobs, particularly those with essential jobs, to keep our society running smoothly. the new advice from the cdc not only could help the economy running, but may also help avoid
layla santiago fours in florida, thanks so much. let s talk more about all of this. joining us now is dr. michael menna, the chief science officer for e-med. thanks for being here. i want to get your reaction to the new cdc guidance that elizabeth walked us through. do you think this was the right move at the right time? i think the cdc is doing everything obviously in its power to try to keep society running, so on that front i think this is a good approach, but i do believe that this is a poor approach unless we have evidence that somebody is negative at that five-day mark when they leave isolation. we have tests. we have rapid tests. the u.s. could have these in much greater numbers, and this would be a very good use for these tests to say if you go into isolation, get an isolation kit. it comes with an n-95 mask amend two rapid tests that you can use on day five and if you re
infected, we want to get people back to the jobs, particularly those with essential jobs, to keep our society running smoothly. so, in addition with to what dr. fauci just said, there is good science showing you are most contagious in the few days before and the few days after you get infected with covid-19. so there is really no reason to keep you out for ten days as long as you are asymptomatic or feeling better. the cdc made some changes for people who are exposed, in other words, let s say a family member had covid, you know you ve been exposed to it and you don t yet know if you have covid. in that case, you re in quarantine. let s talk about the changes for quarantine. if you are within six months of your second shot, or if you received a booster, you do not have to do a quarantine. now there is no quarantine but you have to wear a mask for ten days. let s look at the vaccine efficacy that made the cdc think about doing this, they say that
particularly those with essential jobs to keep our society running smoothly. so i think that was a very prudent and good choice on the part of the cdc, which we spent a considerable amount of time k discussing. namely getting people back in half the time that they would have been out so they can get back to the workplace doing things that are important to keep society running smoothly. and are you concerned americans will have trouble keeping track of all of these changes, these rules that change here and there? and does this boil down to just a big honor system now? no. i don t think so, jim. i think it was a good idea to do that because what we were seeing when you have so many cases and many of the omicron cases interestingly are either without symptoms or minimally symptomatic. particularly the breakthrough infections you get when people have been vaccinated.