Madrid sees “reasonable” to reduce the quarantines of positives from 10 to 5 days as proposed in the United States

The US CDC relies on evidence indicating that positives are most infectious 2 to 3 days before symptoms appear

The Community of Madrid considers “reasonable” advance in different measures to face the pandemic, due to the advancement of the micron variant, such as the reduction of quarantine days, now established at ten and that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends lowering to five.

This is how the Deputy Minister of Health Assistance and Public Health of the Community of Madrid, Antonio Zapatero, and the general director of Public Health, Elena Andradas, spoke at a press conference at the Minister of Health.

“The panorama of decisions in the pandemic and those provided by this variant is different. We have been saying for a few days that the management of the pandemic cannot be the same as a year ago nor a few months ago for two reasons: one due to the population’s vaccination situation and two due to the clinical and epidemiological features of this variant“, has exposed Zapatero, who has stressed that it is” in a moment of transition “regarding the way to face the pandemic.

The deputy counselor has indicated that changes are taking place in the international context, such as the decision of the CDC. At this point, he recalled that Madrid was the first region to make the decision last week that it was not necessary for vaccinated close contacts to quarantine.

“We have been adapting the decision-making of this Community to the reality that we have in front of us. I believe that this will be the case in the future, there will also be important changes in the management of the pandemic,” he stressed.

For his part, Andradas has agreed that this period of transition implies changes in the recommendations, also of close contacts. “You have to take another step, even modify the epidemiological surveillance system “, has stressed. In his opinion, it is necessary to adapt to the changes that the micron variant supposes, which begins to resemble “an infectious virus of winter seasons”.

Citizens ask Snchez to reduce quarantines

In line with the decision announced this Monday by the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) of reduce covid-19 quarantine from 10 to five days, the deputy of the Citizens Parliamentary Group, Guillermo Daz Gmez, asks the Government, in the Table of the Congress of Deputies, if it plans to update the quarantine protocol and reduce the number of days of isolation in case of positive.

Thus, he points out that the United States health authorities cited the evidence available today, with new data and such an accentuated prevalence of the micron variant, which, despite being much more contagious than the previous ones, causes much less affectation.

According to the CDC, this decision is made because the evidence shows that Covid-19 positives only transmit the disease in a time window between 1 and 2 days before presenting symptomsand between 2 and 3 days after presenting them. “Therefore, it would not make sense, especially with such a high prevalence of the milder micron variant, to force patients to remain isolated for 10 days, with economic and human costs that this entails“, seala Daz, informa Europa Press.

Italy is also considering reducing isolation

The Italian Government is considering reducing the quarantine of those vaccinated with the third dose due to the fear that the rapid spread of the micron variant will paralyze some activities in the country, where they are currently more than two million people isolated by the coronavirus.

The reduction, starting next january, from the current quarantine of between 7 and 10 days –according to the level of vaccination and other aspects– a between 3 and 5 days for those vaccinated with the booster dose It will be the main measure to be studied tomorrow by the Scientific Technical Committee (CTS) to monitor the pandemic, meeting at the request of the regions, report Efe of the local media.

“It is more difficult for those who have the third dose to become infected, so the rule for this category can probably be revised, “according to the governor of Lombarda (north), Atiilio Fontana, one of the regional presidents who has requested the opinion of the CTS.