ST. LOUIS — Saint Louis and St. Louis County will continue to follow 14-day quarantine guidelines despite recent changes to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that allow local jurisdictions to adopt shorter quarantine periods.
In a joint letter released Tuesday, the city and county's health departments said they would be sticking with the stronger guidelines to better reduce community spread of COVID-19 in the St. Louis area. The letter cited data that a close contact's transmission risk after a 14-day quarantine period is "nearly nonexistent."
The revised CDC guidelines, released Dec. 2, say close contacts can resume normal activity after 10 days, or seven if they receive a negative test result. The 14-day quarantine recommendation is still in effect for areas that don't have adequate testing.
The CDC said that although a 14-day period is still recommended, based on local circumstances and resources, the shorter periods are "acceptable alternatives."
"The CDC recognizes that any quarantine shorter than 14 days balances reduced burden against a small possibility of increasing the spread of the virus," it said.
That possibility isn't one local health leaders are willing to risk.
"Releasing a person too soon from a quarantine increases the risk they could still have contracted the virus, develop symptoms and spread it throughout the community," the health departments said. "At this time, the virus is rapidly circulating in the St. Louis region. Loosening quarantine restrictions could lead to increased transmission, which may lead to increased hospitalizations and deaths. Thus, loosening restrictions is not an acceptable option."
On Monday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported a slight decrease in COVID-19 hospital admissions in the St. Louis area, but at the same time said it is seeing a surge in deaths. About 20 coronavirus patients are dying in area hospitals every day, said Dr. Alex Garza, head of the task force.
"That is 20 people a day who won't be going back home to their loved ones," Garza said. "Now, that surge in deaths is completely consistent with the increase in the number of patients hospitalized since October. We have effectively tripled the number of patients. So the increase in the number of deaths isn't too unexpected, but it's troubling nonetheless."
A report from the White House Virus task force dated Nov. 29 said that the state should be doing more to fight the virus, saying that without statewide public health orders, "the spread will remain unyielding with significant impact on the healthcare system."
The city and county health departments recommended that any close contacts who want to take a COVID-19 test should wait at least five days and preferably seven days to lower the chance of a false negative.
