On Monday, December 27, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a media statement indicating people who test positive for COVID-19 are to quarantine for 5 days. Following the 5-day isolation, the individual should consistently wear masks 5 days after. Should the infected be unable to quarantine they should wear a mask for 10 days.

This is half of the previous mandated quarantine of 10 days, leaving many to be outraged and shocked at the large difference. As the holiday season has just passed, with an increase in cases, the CDC’s decision appeared to make no sense to the general populace, leading to mass amounts of backlash on social media platforms such as Twitter.

According to cdc.gov, “Given what we currently know about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation for the public.”

When asked for the rationale of the decision, the agency said more than 100 studies from 17 countries indicate that most transmission happens early in an infection, generally in the 1 to 2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2 to 3 days after. Leading to the decision that people who test positive should isolate for 5 days.

However, as the spike in cases increase throughout the country from holiday get togethers, the CDC stresses the importance of getting tested and isolating as needed.