New Advisory for Discontinuation of Home Isolation for People with COVID-19 Who Are Not in ACFs or Nursing Homes

The Department of Health (DOH) issued updated guidance dated July 23, 2021, Health Advisory: Discontinuation of Home Isolation for Persons with COVID-19 Who Are Not in Health Care Facilities or Congregate Settings, which supersedes May 30, 2020 guidance. This guidance relates to people living in the community, not adult care facility (ACF) and nursing home settings. Highlights of this new guidance include the following:

DOH continues recommendation of a symptom-based strategy for determining the duration of isolation; however, the guidance:

• reduces the period of time that a person must be fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medication prior to discontinuing isolation from 72 hours to 24 hours, consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations;
• advises that when using a test-based strategy to determine discontinuation of isolation, a total of two negative results from RT-PCR test specimens (collected ≥24 hours apart) are required;
• applies to all individuals who test positive, irrespective of vaccination status.

Members are encouraged to review the guidance for additional details.

Contact: Diane Darbyshire, ddarbyshire@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8828