December 07, 2020 Louisiana adopts CDC guidance allowing shortened COVID quarantine, while stressing the risk

- The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) today adopts the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recently updated guidance that allows people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 to shorten their quarantine period from 14 days to 10 days, or as few as 7 days with a negative test.

Still, the shorter quarantine periods do come with a risk that a person may be infectious when he or she leaves quarantine, and should be carefully evaluated when weighing options. Because even a small post-quarantine transmission risk could result in substantial secondary clusters in settings where there is a high risk for transmission, LDH is currently recommending the full 14-day quarantine period for use among residents and staff of congregate living settings such as nursing homes and correctional facilities.

CDC continues to recommend a quarantine period of 14 days, but now provides two new options to shorten quarantine based on local circumstances and resources. The Louisiana Department of Health has reviewed the updated CDC guidance and underlying data and accepts the following options to shorten quarantine for close contacts of an individual infected with COVID-19:

Should an individual choose to shorten their quarantine the following guidance is critical:

About quarantine

Quarantine is used to separate someone who might have been exposed to COVID-19 and may develop illness away from other people. Quarantine helps prevent spread of disease that can occur before a person knows they have the virus.

The recommendation for a 14-day quarantine was based on estimates of the upper bounds of the COVID-19 incubation period. Quarantine’s importance grew after it was evident that persons are able to transmit COVID before symptoms develop, and that a substantial portion of infected people never develop symptomatic illness but can still transmit the virus. In this context, quarantine is a critical measure to control transmission.

Quarantine is intended to reduce the risk that infected persons might unknowingly transmit infection to others. 

Read the CDC guidance here.

Surgeon General Ralph L. Abraham, M.D.

Interim Secretary Drew Maranto

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