WEBVTT - CDC Issues Updated Quarantine Guidelines

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, December three. I'm Oscar Ramrors from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>Lots of news out of the CDC recently when it

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<v Speaker 1>comes to COVID nineteen. First, the CDC said that the

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<v Speaker 1>standard fourteen day quarantine can be shortened to ten days

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<v Speaker 1>or even seven days of certain criteria are met. It

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<v Speaker 1>can be ten days if you're showing no symptoms at all,

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<v Speaker 1>and seven days if you get a negative test. New

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<v Speaker 1>guidelines were also released when it comes to testing before

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<v Speaker 1>and after travel. Joel Achenbach, science reporter at the Washington Post,

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<v Speaker 1>joins us for the latest guideline adjustments. Thanks for joining us, Joel,

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<v Speaker 1>thanks for having me. I wanted to talk about some

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<v Speaker 1>new guidance from the CDC. This has to do with

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<v Speaker 1>quarantine periods. For a while now, we've heard that if

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<v Speaker 1>you're gonna be quarantining, it's gonna be fourteen days. Now

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<v Speaker 1>the new guidances, they're dropping that down to ten days,

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<v Speaker 1>possibly seven days, depending on the circumstances of it all.

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<v Speaker 1>So Joel, help us walk through some of these new guidelines.

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<v Speaker 1>Now is a little complicated, so I'll do my best

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<v Speaker 1>and you know, this is a science based decision, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's also one based in how do people actually behave

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<v Speaker 1>They felt that anecdotally they were hearing from the various

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<v Speaker 1>public health agencies, you know, the county health departments. Hey,

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<v Speaker 1>people are not cooperating with the quarantines. They're not doing it.

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<v Speaker 1>So keep in mind, let's say you've become exposed to

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<v Speaker 1>the virus. That's when you get quarantined. Not that you

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<v Speaker 1>have it, not that you're infected, but you might have it.

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<v Speaker 1>You get identified it through contact tracing. You were at

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<v Speaker 1>the party where someone was known to have the virus.

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<v Speaker 1>The health department says, okay, you got a quarantine for

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<v Speaker 1>fourteen days. Well, what happens is people they don't want

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<v Speaker 1>to do that for fourteen days. It's too long. They're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna miss work, they're gonna lose their job, maybe they

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<v Speaker 1>need the money, and it creates a kind of a

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<v Speaker 1>lack of cooperational, lack of compliance. So they looked at

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<v Speaker 1>it and said, okay, what if we make it a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit easier, will still get captured most potential infectious people.

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<v Speaker 1>Will make it a little bit easier. Will give two alternatives.

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<v Speaker 1>One is ten days if you monitor symptoms every single

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<v Speaker 1>day and never have any symptoms. You're supposed to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure that you don't have a fever, don't have a cost,

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<v Speaker 1>aren't fatigued. The second thing is you can cut it

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<v Speaker 1>to seven days if you have a negative test within

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<v Speaker 1>forty eight hours of the end of that seven day period.

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<v Speaker 1>Does that make sense? Yeah, definitely. And you know, this

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<v Speaker 1>is kind of what a lot of people were probably

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<v Speaker 1>doing already keeping quiet about it. Let's see if I

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<v Speaker 1>have any symptoms. If not, I'm all good in their heads, right,

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<v Speaker 1>because they want to avoid this very strict fourteen days.

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<v Speaker 1>As you mentioned, for a lot of people, they can

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<v Speaker 1>miss work, they could lose out on a job, a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of stuff like that. So definitely it makes sense

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<v Speaker 1>that they could reduce it that way. But it also

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<v Speaker 1>depends on testing. You know, you've got to make sure

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<v Speaker 1>you get tested in the right period of time. I

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<v Speaker 1>did ask this and they clear find that either of

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<v Speaker 1>the two main kinds of tests can be used in

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<v Speaker 1>that last forty eight hour period, either the rapid response

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<v Speaker 1>antigen test or the PCR test. The PCR is more accurate,

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<v Speaker 1>but it takes a little longer to get the result

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<v Speaker 1>and sometimes a couple of days or more the three days.

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<v Speaker 1>But you know, to some extent, like you said, people

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<v Speaker 1>are doing what they're gonna do. The government is not

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<v Speaker 1>going door to door checking on people. A lot of

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<v Speaker 1>this is voluntary. But the contact tracers, I mean, they're

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<v Speaker 1>trying to do their job. They call someone up and say, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we think you may have been exposed. People

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<v Speaker 1>don't answer the phone when when they get a call

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<v Speaker 1>from the health department. They're like, hey, I don't want

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<v Speaker 1>to know about it. I don't want to be part

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<v Speaker 1>of this system. So they're trying to get better compliance.

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<v Speaker 1>The eases the burden on the health departments and it's

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<v Speaker 1>a little more realistic for people, and it will still

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<v Speaker 1>capture probably the cases. Obviously, they hope that if the

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<v Speaker 1>quarantine period is lower, you might be more willing to

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<v Speaker 1>cooperate with a contact tracer. The CDC also released new

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<v Speaker 1>guidelines about testing before and after traveling. We know that

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<v Speaker 1>was a huge issue with Thanksgiving people just rushing to

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<v Speaker 1>go get tests and Christmas and New Year's is coming up.

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<v Speaker 1>What's the new guidance there? What they said before I

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<v Speaker 1>mean like a week or so ago is and what

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<v Speaker 1>people have said as well, try to get a test

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<v Speaker 1>before you take a trip. Now they've gotten a little

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<v Speaker 1>more specific. They're saying one to three days before your trip,

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<v Speaker 1>get tested. Number one. Number two is when you return

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<v Speaker 1>for a trip three to five days afterwards, get tested.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's another wrinkle in it, which, now that I

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<v Speaker 1>think about it, I need to maybe add to my

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<v Speaker 1>latest story. Is they're saying that when you come back

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<v Speaker 1>from a trip you should essentially stay home. You should

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<v Speaker 1>essentially quarantine when you get back from the trip, as

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<v Speaker 1>if you got it on the trip. And they're saying

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<v Speaker 1>for seven days, cut out all non essential activities, which

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<v Speaker 1>is again like are people really gonna do that? I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>I you know, I I have not been traveling, but

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<v Speaker 1>I have friends who are, and you know, when they

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<v Speaker 1>come back from a trip, they come wandering by, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>socially distance. So I mean it's been I think it's

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<v Speaker 1>good to put the message out there that when't you

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<v Speaker 1>have been on the road or in an airplane, when

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<v Speaker 1>you come home, you need to spend seven days of

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<v Speaker 1>assuming that you might have gotten no parties, no running around,

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<v Speaker 1>just take it easy for seven days. And that's a

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<v Speaker 1>tough thing to write when people take some vacation time,

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<v Speaker 1>days off of work. They only a lot the days

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<v Speaker 1>that they're actually gonna be gone, and when you come

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<v Speaker 1>back on you know, Saturday or something, you're back to

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<v Speaker 1>work on Monday. And this is the difficulty in controlling people.

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<v Speaker 1>People are gonna do what they want. It's tough. That's

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<v Speaker 1>why they say it's not worth it. Maybe just don't

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<v Speaker 1>go travel. But yeah, I mean it's very tough all around.

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<v Speaker 1>So we'll see how these new guidance maybe helps, but

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<v Speaker 1>who knows. I just still get this overwhelming sense that

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<v Speaker 1>people are gonna do what they want to do. And

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<v Speaker 1>that's and that's the tough part. When we just cases

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<v Speaker 1>rising everywhere. People are gonna do, They're gonna behave in

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<v Speaker 1>a certain way. But if you can nudge behavior toward

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<v Speaker 1>a better path, that will make a difference, particularly you

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<v Speaker 1>know right now where we're in the middle of a

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<v Speaker 1>bad period and I think people understand what's going on,

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<v Speaker 1>but it bears repeating that we're in the middle of

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<v Speaker 1>a surge and the numbers are gonna keep going up

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<v Speaker 1>as the virus spreads more easily in some of the

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<v Speaker 1>big population centers over the next few weeks, and so

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<v Speaker 1>We're in for a very rough patch before we hit

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<v Speaker 1>the sunshine, if that makes any sense. Joel Achenbach, science

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<v Speaker 1>reporter at the Washington Post, thank you very much for

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<v Speaker 1>joining us. Well, thank you for having me. I'm Oscar

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<v Speaker 1>Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't forget the

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<v Speaker 1>difference today's big news stories. You can check me out

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<v Speaker 1>on the Daily Dive podcast every money to Friday, so

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<v Speaker 1>Alwison I, Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.