Amid Omicron surge, 10-day quarantine still ‘ideal’ but not always possible: Tam

Public health officials in some regions are facing tough questions after slashing COVID-19 quarantine times to five days, despite the possibility of spread afterward.

The “ideal” quarantine period for a person infected with COVID-19 is still 10 days, but whether that’s possible amid an explosion of Omicron cases is another question entirely, says Canada’s top doctor.

For nearly two years since the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the typical quarantine period for someone who contracts the virus has been 10 days.

That’s changing, though, as the extremely contagious Omicron variant multiplies around the world and pushes even highly vaccinated countries like Canada to new case records. Many places of work, including critical employers like hospitals, are struggling with huge numbers of staff sidelined by infections.

As a result, some provinces — like Ontario– are choosing to slash quarantine periods.

“This is a balancing of the risks compared with the need to protect your critical infrastructure,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, in a press conference on Wednesday.

“Even with five days of quarantine, contagiousness is possible after that.”

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Tam, along with federal ministers at the press conference, was asked several times about the approaches being taken by some provinces and territories, which include cutting the quarantine period to five days from 10, despite that risk of continued contagion.