2. A 5-day rule incentivizes people to test because the harms from finding out you are infected are less. 3. A 5-day rule could prevent society from grinding to a screeching halt over the next week or two when everyone gets infected at once…
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Why I like 5 days of isolation, with no test, as recommended by CDC and now MA DPH. 🧵
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1. Remember when
#MedTwitter
rallied together against outdoor masks? Because when the “rules” are overly broad one loses sight of where the greatest risk lies. Energy is not unlimited. A 5-day rule concentrates energy on minimizing risk when risk is greatest.
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... That’s not political nor is it prioritizing the economy over public health. It’s reality. We need the lights on and food on the shelves. Everyone is essential to someone. Education is essential.
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4. A 5-day rule acknowledges an unfortunate reality: everyone has COVID right now. The person you don’t know has COVID poses a greater risk to you than the one you do know has it who is on day 6. This new rule moves us closer to “living with” the virus.
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5. Why no test? I’m not convinced antigen tests measure “contagiousness”. I agree that data suggest you are more likely contagious when pos and less likely when neg. But there are many tests out there with different characteristics. What proportion are neg on day 5? On day 10?…
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…we actually need isolation to be shorter for reasons 1-4 and I worry that requiring a test would threaten that. We can tolerate some transmission in the post-vax era. Containment is no longer the strategy. Happy New Year! Here’s hoping for more steps forward like this in ‘22!
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@ShiraDoronMD
Makes no sense to me. If people knowingly work while sick and possibly infectious, the spread of COVID will increase. Which means it's more likely that people will be off sick en masse.
Your take seems to be "let it rip". Isn't epidemiology about prevention?
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