Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 no longer need to isolate for five days as long as their fever has cleared and symptoms have improved for at least 24 hours, Ontario’s top doctor says.
Dr. Kieran Moore held a media briefing Wednesday where he discussed the upcoming respiratory virus season.
During the press conference, Moore announced that the five-day isolation recommendation has been dropped.
“The main guidance now for the fall has to apply to all respiratory illnesses. So we need to have an approach that will decrease the transmission of RSV, influenza and COVID,” Moore said.
“So the guidance is — and it should be clear — stay at home when you’re sick. You should not go back to the school or work environment until your symptoms are resolving and improving for at least 24 hours.
“If you have a fever, you can’t or should not go back to school or work until that fever has resolved and to protect others, you should continue to wear a mask even though you’re feeling better for 10 full days from the start of your symptoms.”
He said vulnerable individuals should also be avoided for 10 days.
Moore said the advice applies to the general public, but there will be specific advice for high-risk facilities like long-term care and acute care facilities, where 10-day isolation will be maintained.
Moore also said that close contacts who have been exposed should “take precautions” by masking in public and also avoiding vulnerable individuals and settings for 10 days following their last exposure.
“It’s absolutely … different than two years ago when we didn’t have vaccination, we didn’t have such a high level of protection in our communities and hybrid immunity, both from vaccination and exposure to these viruses and now that we have effective treatments like Paxlovid,” Moore said.
Moore confirmed that means individuals can return to work or school even when still testing positive for COVID on rapid tests, though reiterated they should wear a mask for 10 days from symptom onset.
“And we’ll have the improvement in ventilation in the school environment in particular. We’ll have the improvement in environmental cleaning, the improvement in hand hygiene in all classrooms,” he said.
“This approach should decrease the risk of all respiratory viruses in our communities.”
Moore said the “caveat” is that everyone should stay up-to-date on their vaccinations, particularly for COVID-19.
“This combination of strategies should be a more pragmatic and practical approach to return to the school with as least disruption that we can have in the school and work environment,” he said.
“We’re trying to be practical and pragmatic in our approach, and these recommendations may change if we see more impact of respiratory viruses on the health of Ontarians and our communities.”