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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new COVID-19 isolation and quarantine guidelines on Friday.

The release says given what is currently known about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, the CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to 5 days, if asymptomatic, followed by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others.

The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for 5 days to minimize the risk of infecting others.

Additionally, the CDC is updating the recommended quarantine period for those exposed to COVID-19. For people who are unvaccinated or are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose (or more than 2 months after the J&J vaccine) and not yet boosted, the CDC now recommends District Director Dr. Maria Almond says those numbers could be bigger than they seem.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the omicron variant now accounts for approximately 75.8% of COVID-19 cases in the region.

“Cases have been rapidly increasing due to the ease with which the omicron variant spreads,” Almond said Monday, Dec. 27. “Testing over the holidays is always limited, so the true spread of COVID-19 in the community is likely much higher than our already increased case numbers show. But the most concerning fact is that hospitalizations continue to rise as well, threatening our already strained health care systems. By far, the vast majority of those people who require hospitalization are unvaccinated.”

The Piedmont Health District continues to slowly increase its number of vaccinated individuals.

Vaccination rates in each county of the health district, as of Monday, were as follows:

Charlotte: population fully vaccinated: 50.6%, population with booster shot: 18.4%

Lunenburg: population fully vaccinated: 50.6%, population with booster shot: 15.9%

Buckingham: population fully vaccinated: 51.3%, population with booster shot: 18.9%

Cumberland: population fully vaccinated: 47.2%, population with booster shot: 16.3%

Prince Edward: population fully vaccinated: 43.7%, population with booster shot: 18.1%

VACCINATION CLINICS:

• Wednesday, Jan. 12 at the Journey Community Center in Jetersville from 1:30-5:30 p.m.

• Thursday, Jan. 14 at the Cumberland Community Cares/Delma’s Pantry from 9 a.m. – noon.

FREE PCR

TESTING:

The PEFYA location from 1 – 4 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 18

Monday, Jan. 31

Monday, Feb. 14