As New York COVID cases soar, some experts worry about new CDC guidance

NEW YORK - New York state on Tuesday reported 40,000 new cases of COVID-19 statewide, pushing the state's positivity rate up near 20%. 

Dr. Chid Iloabachie, the associate chair of emergency medicine for Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital, is seeing a surge of omicron cases first-hand. 

"Fortunately, this variant appears to be milder and we are better at treating COVID than we were in the previous year," Iloabachie said. "But we're still certainly seeing the same volume of patients or higher, and it is pretty taxing to the health system."  

Manhattan Borough President-elect Mark Levine said that hospitalizations are rising fast. "Even pre-omicron staff was already stretched extremely thin," he said.

The CDC on Monday issued new isolation guidelines for those infected with COVID. The federal agency recommends quarantining for five days instead of 10 as long as you no longer have symptoms. The updated guidance is based on the latest science showing that a person is likely contagious two days before and three days after symptoms appear. 

CDC shortens COVID-19 quarantine recommendation to 5 days

"Not all of those cases are going to be severe. In fact, many are going to be asymptomatic," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Monday. "We want to make sure there is a mechanism by which we can safely continue to keep society functioning while following the science."

The CDC call was also influenced by the impact omicron is having on the economy. It has prompted some critics to question whether these new guidelines are the right move during this omicron surge.  

Some medical experts are criticizing the CDC's new guidance, saying it could create more confusion and fear among Americans.

"There's no testing requirement and so there's a concern that there may still be infectious people who are going back into the workforce and able to transmit the virus to other people," Dr. Stephanie Silvera, an epidemiologist and professor of public health at Montclair State University, said. "We're telling people if you are no longer symptomatic or if your symptoms are resolving without any real concrete definition of what that means."

Number of children hospitalized with COVID increases five-fold in New York City

Dr. Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said proceeding with this new guidance without requiring testing is "reckless."

"Using a rapid test or some type of test to validate that the person isn't infectious is vital," Topol said. "There's no evidence, no data to support this."

With The Associated Press.

Related Stories

• How will the world decide when the pandemic is over?
• $100 incentive for anyone getting a booster in NYC
• COVID testing sites search part of Google, Biden partnership