CDC shortens recommended quarantine time - December 28, 2021

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened the recommended times that asymptomatic people should isolate if they’ve tested positive for COVID-19 from 10 days to five days. Scientists said staffing shortages, not only in hospitals but also in restaurants, retail and airline workforces, increased the urgency of re-evaluating isolation periods. Between Christmas and New Year's, doctors expect the Omicron surge to grow - CNN As Omicron Spreads, Governments Race to Ease Staff Shortages - The Wall Street Journal Omicron could force many workers who test positive to quarantine under federal mandate, intensifying labor shortages - USA Today Airlines have canceled more than 4,000 flights since Christmas Eve as the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19 skyrocketed sick calls from flight crews. Airlines expect the year-end holiday period to include some of the busiest days since the pandemic began – the Transportation Security Administration screened 13.6 million people over the last week. Fauci says US should consider domestic flight vaccine mandate; more planes grounded - Reuters Hong Kong to Make Air Cargo Crew Do 3-Day Hotel Quarantine - Bloomberg @David_Slotnick: Delta, which was the first of the airlines to ask CDC to shorten the isolation guidelines, says it’s working to implement the new 5-day policy President Joe Biden pledged to ease a shortage of COVID-19 tests as the omicron variant drives up cases, conceding not enough has been done this year to expand testing capacity. Biden ordered 500 million at-home rapid tests that Americans can obtain for free, but they arrived too late to mitigate disruptions of winter holiday plans. The Biden Administration Rejected an October Proposal for “Free Rapid Tests for the Holidays” - Vanity Fair New York expands coronavirus testing as case counts continue to climb. - The New York Times @HannaMordoh: If you get your hands on an at-home COVID-19 test... how accurate is it? Doctors say make sure the test kit is on the FDA's approved list T