General Wellness

Shortening Quarantine Time is Dangerous Advice

The US just surpassed the highest daily case rate since the start of the pandemic almost 2 years ago. Over 265,000 cases in only one day. Despite this dramatic increase in the number of infections, the CDC recently suggested that the duration of isolating after contracting Covid-19 be shortened to 5 days, if your symptoms were at worst, mild. 

Why? 

Although there may be some actual practical reasons for this, I think it’s mostly because of political, economic and social pressure.

First, we ARE running out of healthcare providers. They’re also getting sick at alarming rates. Fewer ambulances. Fewer nurses. Fewer doctors. There may not be someone available to care for you if you need it, Covid, heart attack or car accident.  We’re also running out of other essential workers. If you need a police officer, they may not come as quickly because they too are understaffed. Just look at the mess at the airports with all the flight cancellations. They claim it’s mostly because of sick workers. Although every industry is impacted, I’m OK with waiting longer in the checkout line or a cancelled flight, but we should not be OK if we need a doctor or police officer more urgently.

If you are vaccinated, the duration of contagiousness IS shorter and the degree of contagiousness IS diminished. However, there are still about 40% of people out there in the US who are not vaccinated and fewer are boosted, and thus can’t claim that they are “fully vaccinated”. It’s like being a little bit pregnant. 

The CDC, did not make any comment about vaccine status when considering shortening the quarantine duration.

Studies continue to show that the greatest risk for transmission is the 2 days before symptoms start and the 3 days afterwards, Omicron or not. But some people continue to shed for days afterwards.

In addition, there is less Omicron than first thought which means that there is still a lot of Delta, which causes more significant disease with longer shedding of active virus. Remember that delta replicated up to 1000x more in the nose than previous variants.

The problem with people is that if you give them an inch, they take a foot. People love to hear good news about their bad habits or unfortunate circumstances. I have a VERY close relative who is older and was just diagnosed with covid. Minimal symptoms fortunately. Even she was asking me if she could shorten the duration of isolation. NO, NO, NO! Older, with underlying conditions, with an older spouse also with underlying conditions… Absolutely not. Isolate for a minimum of 10 days after symptom onset or a positive test if not symptomatic. Isolate. If you must be in the presence of another person, both should wear an N95 mask, keep the room ventilated and limit the time of exposure.

The pandemic is still here and it is still very serious.

A recent study indicated that as many as 10% of Covid infected people, symptomatic or not, go on to develop long-haul symptoms. You will likely survive, but a 1 in 10 chance of heart, pancreas, kidney or brain issues is not a risk anyone should be willing to take. Kids are getting infected at a much greater rate than before and there 

Pis concern for their cognitive development if they get long-haul issues involving the brain. Although this virus starts in the nose and lungs, it attacks every single organ system and some studies have shown active, live virus in organ/tissue biopsies, even months after initial infection.

As far as the surge is concerned, the rate of hospitalization and death has risen, but not proportionately relative to the overall number of infections. That’s a good thing. BUT, people are getting really sick and the fact is clear that the majority, >90% of those who do get really sick, are not vaccinated or boosted!

And the issue of testing at home as a means of determining contagiousness? Useless.

First of all, try getting a home test or get ready to wait for hours for a test at a facility. There is a massive shortage of tests. Secondly, the tests can remain positive for weeks, or even months in the case of genetic tests, after infection. Lastly, the antigen tests have a higher false negative rate, especially with the Omicron variant, so they can give you a false sense of security.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, behave in a way which minimizes your risks of getting sick in the first place. Vaccinate, mask up (more on that in an upcoming post), distance, ventilate, wash your hands and get healthy. 

IF YOU DO GET SICK, Isolate for 10 days from the onset of symptoms or from the date of the positive test if you are not symptomatic. 

There is no bending of the rules for the vast majority of people, even if some governmental body says that it may be safe.

This is not Dodgeball! This is a pandemic. It can be life and death.

Protect yourselves, but more importantly, protect everyone else around you.

Stay safe and be well.

AC ✌️🌱❤🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎 🐖 😷(doctorchuma.com)

Covid Testing, Re-Testing and Quarantine Protocols

One last, but important post.

As Omicron has spread, I have sadly heard of many friends who have contracted Covid in the last few days and have received a few questions about testing, re-testing and how long to isolate. 

The exact timelines are not clear since the virus keeps changing and it may well be that with Omicron, everything shifts even closer and shorter. Meaning, you can get infected sooner (even earlier than 48 hours after exposure), can be contagious sooner (also in 48 hours) and we know it is at least twice as contagious than previous variants.

The official recommendations have not really changed.

If you have a concerning exposure, test at 3 days and repeat at 5 days. The likelihood of converting to positive after 5 days is not impossible, but unlikely. Obviously, if you are still symptomatic, get a molecular test. Antigen testing is fine for the first 2 but if you are really symptomatic, get a molecular test because of their accuracy.

If you are symptomatic, test right away and if positive, you must quarantine for 10-14 days after symptom onset. 10 vs 14 is a bit of a range and the bottom line is that it depends how sick you were. More sick, give it 14 days. If not symptomatic, it should be 10 days from a positive test. Ideally, you should also be fever free for 24 hours. As far as still having other symptoms, you can have those for weeks or even months after you are no longer contagious, so they don’t matter. But be practical. If you’re hacking up a lung, maybe hang out at home alone. AND, there are other things out there other than Covid. Like the FLU. So just be sure you don’t have some other infectious disease before mingling.

BUT there is no need to quarantine for longer than the 10-14 days, even if you have another positive result. That’s because both the antigen and the molecular tests can be positive for as long as 90 days. The genetic tests especially. That’s because you can have remnants of dead virus in your nose for a long time, but those remnants are not infectious. So DON’T use a test as an indicator of contagiousness after the quarantine period.

Lastly, what to do if you catch Covid:

1. Rest. Read my verbose posts. They’ll put you to sleep.
2. Drink tons of water and herbal teas.
3. Fever reducers ONLY if your temperature is over 102. Remember that a fever is your body’s response to infection and it’s attempt to kill off the bug. Deal with it. If you must, use acetaminophen (Tylenol) and not ibuprofen (Motrin) since the latter also dampens your immune response and you want your immune system working at peak performance.
4. Mucinex is a mucus thinner and taking it helps to clear secretions. 1200 mg twice a day. If you have a cough, you can also take Mucinex DM (dextromethorphan). The DM is a non-narcotic cough suppressant. Avoid the D, which stands for decongestant. They ramp you up.
5. EAT PLANTS. Pound as many fruits and vegetables into yourself you can take. That’s where the bulk of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals are. Standouts include:
   1. Berries, especially blue and black
   2. Greens
   3. Cruciferous veggies
   4. Sprouts
   5. Mushrooms
6. Supplement:
   1. Vitamin C
   2. Vitamin D
   3. Melatonin. 

Some others include:

4. Zinc
5. Quercetin
6. NAC (N Acetyl Cysteine), a great antioxidant

7. If you have an O2 monitor, keep an eye on it. If it starts to drop below 90%, it may be time to have a doctor check you out.
8. Meds. There are a lot of meds touted by various people as being helpful, but I won’t get into those. Some may be helpful for some people, but the studies don’t bear out tremendous efficacy, regardless of what you read.

No discussion about prevention in this post. I’ve beaten the crap out of that one and if you are reading the stuff above with great intent, it’s too late for you anyway!

Stay safe and be well.

AC