Theres one big COVID rule still in place. Will we soon see isolation guidance change? – San Francisco Chronicle

California has rolled back most of its COVID-19 measures since the omicron surge died down, and Bay Area counties have followed suit, removing indoor mask mandates and loosening other precautions like vaccination mandates for indoor dining and gyms.

Yet there is still one critical tool for controlling the spread of the virus that remains in place: the five-day isolation for those who test positive for the coronavirus.

Isolation and quarantine periods were dramatically shortened during the omicron surge, as counties faced immense staffing shortages at health-care facilities and some research suggested that omicron caused people to get sick faster. Elsewhere around the world, some countries have begun to change or remove isolation mandates. Spain recently ended mandatory quarantines for those infected with the virus but showing no or mild symptoms of the disease, and the U.K. ended the legal requirement to self-isolate in February, though it still recommends staying away from others after a positive test.

Now, with the emergence of the new, even more transmissible BA.2 subvariant, is it possible the guidance here in California and the Bay Area could change again?

All Bay Area counties follow the California Department of Public Healths guidance on isolation and quarantine for the general public, which goes beyond the recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, updated in December of last year.

According to Californias current policy, everyone, regardless of vaccination status and whether they are symptomatic or not, must isolate at home for at least five days if they test positive for COVID-19. If they choose not to get tested after five days or if they have fever, they must isolate for 10 days.

People who are exposed to someone with COVID-19 and are unvaccinated or have not yet received their booster dose must quarantine at home for at least five days. If theyre unable to get tested, they must quarantine for 10 days, even if theyre asymptomatic.

In California, the guidance is only recommended for the general public, but employers are required to adhere to Cal/OSHA standards that follow the states guidance.

Public health officials said changes to the current guidance will be based on science and what they continue to learn about COVID-19 and its variants.

At this point, the guidance still stands people are still getting sick with COVID so there is still a need to isolate (or quarantine if exposed), Laine Hendricks, a public information officer for Marin County, said in an email.

However, it does not mean the CDC will not alter the guidance if a new variant emerges that behaves differently than past variants, she added.

Dr. George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology at UCSF, said in a phone interview that the periods (for isolating and quarantining) have both shortened over time as we get a better understanding of the natural history of the disease and as the variants have evolved to two viruses that replicate more rapidly and cause disease more quickly.

Rutherford said the duration for each may become shorter or longer if the incubation period for COVID-19 changes, but he doesnt expect the isolation and quarantine guidance to completely go away.

Its standard infection control precaution, said Rutherford. We do this (practice) for all sorts of diseases.

Hendricks also pointed out that these practices are hardly unique to COVID-19, and that other viruses, from the common flu to Ebola, come with guidance on how long to stay away from people. In each case, the recommendation is unique to the virus, as each behaves differently.

But Dr. Lee Riley, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley, said in an email he believes isolation and quarantine efforts could soon be eliminated when enough people get vaccinated (more than 90%) and the disease is no longer severe.

In places like Japan, people routinely wear masks during the cold or influenza season and isolate themselves not a requirement but people do this voluntarily. I think this will soon happen here with COVID-19, said Riley.

Its hard to say when this would be, but if the current decrease in cases continues for the next couple of months, probably by June or July, these mandates will be eliminated, he said. It all depends on what happens with this new subvariant of omicron.

Jessica Flores (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores

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Theres one big COVID rule still in place. Will we soon see isolation guidance change? - San Francisco Chronicle