driving the changes. then, you won t catch them cooperating with the january 6th committee. you are more likely to find them flying south to kiss donald trump s ring. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. our health lead and new questions about the cdc s reduced isolation period guidelines as the u.s. nears an all-time record for daily cases of covid. the centers for disease control and prevention suggesting people with covid should isolate for five days, that s down from ten, as long as they have no symptoms. the cdc insisting the change is motivated by the science purely. the science which shows you re most contagious in the first few days of your illness if you have covid but dr. anthony fauci admitting the new rules were aimed at least in part at getting people back to work more quickly. the flight attendants union now questioning how much these changes were influenced by pressure from corporate america and in addition, the president of the nation s largest nursing
experts over whether there is a safety cost. the trouble is for the unvaccinated, the data doesn t really back up that they become noninfectious at five days. reporter: the isolation guidance doesn t differentiate between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. it does say everyone should mask up for five days following isolation. and there s mounting pushback from union leaders from nurses this is when you should be tightening your controls, not lessening them. to flight attendants. the cdc should be loud and clear about impleltation here because no workers should be forced to come to work when they re still sick and that is what i believe we ll see here. we re very concerned about that. the wave of infections sweeping the country causing staffing shortages and forcing cancellations of thousands of flights during the busy holiday period. apple closing its new york city stores for browsing. maryland cutting back federal court operations. the cdc says the fast-movin
Women to distribute covid at-home tests and n95 masks. today there is new pushback as well after the cdc shortened the isolation period are? people who test positive from ten days to just five. alexandria field reports, some worry this could lead to even more coronavirus cases. it s like this big virus blizzard. i call it a firestorm. reporter: as covid cases surge, a balancing act from the cdc. new guidance cutting down the isolation period from ten days to five days for infected people who are asymptomatic or with symptoms resolving could critically help keep the lights on. it aims to help put people back on the job. we re also now risking a big decline in essential services because we need our first responders and so many others to keep the country going. reporter: but it also comes with concerns from some health