New CDC guidance brings perfect storm of confusion and frustration

WASHINGTON (TND) — Another record for new cases of COVID-19 has been broken once again.

The seven-day average for new infections surpassed the previous record of 250,141 set in January 2021 at a time vaccines were not widely available. New statistics show the seven-day average hit 265,427.

But just as this blizzard of new cases hits just about every corner of the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has cut back its recommended isolation period for those who test positive for COVID-19 from 10 days to five, as long as they are without symptoms and as long as a mask is worn for an additional five days.

“If you are asymptomatic and you are infected, we want to get people back to the jobs, particularly those with essential jobs to keep our society running smoothly," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in an interview with CNN Monday.

A major reason for the new rules was also due to growing evidence people weren’t following the old ones, according to CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

“Some science has demonstrated less than a third of people are isolating when they need to, so we really want to make sure that we had guidance in this moment where we were going to have a lot of disease that could be adhered to that people were willing to adhere to," Walensky told CNN's New Day Wednesday.

Some condemned the decision.

The group National Nurses United wrote in a statement "it will only result it further transmission, illness and death."

In an interview Wednesday, Deborah Burger, president of National Nurses United, said she worried for the safety of nurses and also about the chaos the rules have created.

"It’s already seeding confusion in this community on the public side because one day they’re told one thing and the next day they’re told another thing and neither position is making sense at this moment," she said.

Some have also been confused by the mixed messaging in light of another change as well the CDC’s assessment on how prevalent the omicron variant is.

It was previously estimated to be 73% of cases in the United States, a number now slashed to just 23%.

At a White House COVID-19 response team briefing Wednesday, Walensky said there’s another good reason for the changes: we are now sitting on the shoulders of two years of science.

Still, it may also be fair to say that ever changing science of the ever-changing virus is creating a new round of post-Christmas confusion.