State: COVID quarantine periods will be shorter
Dec. 2, 2020
People exposed to someone with COVID-19 can have their quarantine period reduced to seven or 10 days instead of a 14-day quarantine, the South Dakota Department of Health said today.
The change is a result of new options from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Modifications to the quarantine mean individuals can be released as early as seven days following exposure to someone with COVID-19, assuming no symptoms have developed and a molecular test or a rapid antigen test has come back negative.
The test can be collected at any point from day five or later, but the result has to come back negative before the quarantine is lifted.
Individuals will still be asked to monitor for symptoms over what would have been the 14-day period, and go home and seek testing if the symptoms develop.
If individuals do not develop symptoms, they can be released after day 10 even if they don’t have a negative test.
“This is going to be more or less the standard now within the state of South Dakota,” said Dr. Josh Clayton, the state’s epidemiologist.
The state also will expand its at-home testing option for people who are close contacts to those who test positive. Previously, it was available to household contacts.
The saliva-based test is shipped overnight to someone’s house, collected via Zoom with help from the company and shipped back for processing.
More than 500 household close contacts have ordered tests so far, the state said.
The state also has fixed a glitch that resulted in some people receiving up to seven text messages involving their COVID-19 test results.
The overall technology is having a positive impact on the state’s ability to reach people with test results and receive information about close contacts, Clayton said.
Today’s COVID-19 report showed 47 additional deaths and 1,291 new positive tests.
