Fauci: Shortening COVID-19 isolation periods for essential workers is under ‘serious consideration’

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday said shortening the COVID-19 isolation periods for essential workers is under “serious consideration.”

“The idea about cutting down the period of quarantine for people who have been exposed and perhaps the period of isolation for people who have been infected is something that is under — I would say — serious consideration,” the nation’s top infectious-disease expert told Kaitlan Collins on CNN’s New Day. 

Fauci said the consideration for essential workers comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week announced new guidance for healthcare workers’ isolation periods.  

On Thursday, the CDC shortened the length of time that healthcare workers who test positive for COVID-19 have to isolate — from 10 days to seven, pending a negative test. 

The new guidance comes as the Omicron variant has spread rapidly across the US, making up nearly three-quarters of COVID-19 cases, according to the latest CDC data.