CDC May Relax Some COVID-19 Guidance As CT Hospitalizations Fall

CONNECTICUT — Federal health officials are taking a second look at their guidance regarding how long to isolate after catching the coronavirus.

Currently the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend those who test positive for COVID-19 isolate for 10 days, regardless of vaccination status. But CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told "CBS Mornings" On Wednesday that guidance may be on the verge of loosening up.

In the U.K., health officials have lowered the isolation requirement to seven days, and the U.S. may be following suit.

The CDC is "actively examining those data now and we are doing some modelling analyses to assess that and "anticipate we will have some updates soon," Walensky said.

Of course, before you can test positive, you have to be tested, period, and over-the-counter COVID-19 antigen tests have become rare and prized finds. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced his administration's plans to distribute 500 million free test kits to Americans as part of his COVID-19 winter plan, but the tests won't be available in time for the holidays.

The scarcity of home tests comes even as a brand-new vista of COVID-19 home treatments is about to open up. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized the use of a new at-home pill to fight COVID-19, manufactured by Groton-based Pfizer.

In trials, the drug was shown to reduce by 90 percent hospitalizations and deaths among COVID-19 patients. With mild side effects, it's expected to become the preferred treatment of the virus.

Authorization comes as U.S. health officials worry about a holiday spike in infections riding on the back of the coronavirus omicron variant which accounted for 73 percent of COVID-19 infections last week.

Pressed on whether officials were caught off-guard and unprepared by the surge in cases due to the new variant, Walensky said the Biden administration has been "doing a lot in testing," but "has a lot more work to do."

In Connecticut, the Department of Public Health reports another 37,678 COVID-19 tests were processed in the past 24 hours. Of those, 3,366 were positive, for a daily positivity rate of 8.93 percent.

In the key metric of hospitalizations, the number of beds occupied by those who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Connecticut fell 13 beds since Tuesday, bringing the total number to 821

Most of those hospitalized (262) are in New Haven County.

Just under 82 percent of Connecticut's population has been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC Wednesday afternoon.

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