Israel’s Health Ministry issued new guidelines on Wednesday that shortens the quarantine period for coronavirus patients.
The decision was made in accordance with research which shows that the risk of contracting the coronavirus from a carrier after nine days of the onset of symptoms is low. In light of this fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has updated their recommendations regarding the length of quarantine for coronavirus carriers and the Health Ministry has decided to adopt its recommendations.
The Health Ministry’s new instructions:
1. Patients with a clear onset of symptoms: After 10 days from the onset of symptoms, and at least another three days without symptoms (totaling at least 13 days), and with the authorization of a doctor that the patient is recovered, the patient can leave quarantine without the need for a negative test.
2. Patients with no clear onset of symptoms: The patient will be considered as recovered (with the authorization of a doctor) after 10 days of receiving a positive result as long as at least three days have passed without symptoms without the need for a negative test.
3. Asymptomatic patients: Asymptomatic patients can leave quarantine ten days after receiving a positive result with the authorization of a doctor that the patient is recovered.
Coronavirus patients who were hospitalized, are immunocompromised, or at high-risk should be re-tested before leaving quarantine.
The shortened quarantine period applies only to coronavirus carriers themselves. Those who were exposed to a coronavirus carrier and those arriving from abroad must quarantine for a full two weeks.
The United States also published new guidelines for quarantine last week, shortening the isolation period to ten days, based on a report by the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC reviewed a large body of evidence that indicated that a person remains contagious for a maximum of ten days from the onset of symptoms.
Prof. Ran Balicer, a senior public health official who serves as an adviser to the Health Ministry on infectious disease epidemiology and in senior advisory groups to the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, told Channel 12 News that the positive impact of the shortened isolation period on Israel’s economy will be quite significant.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
This is being put forward as a great advance. However, how is a doctor supposed to authorize that a patient is recovered without a test? Unlike, say, a chest infection where the doctor can listen to the lungs, there is no way of knowing if COVID-19 has disappeared except through testing. Secondly, has anyone considered how much Doctor’s time this will consume? Time that could be spent treating patients. Rapid response tests can easily be administered by technicians.