According to new CDC guidance released this week, an asymptomatic person who tests positive for Coronavirus will now have to quarantine for five days, instead of 10. The CDC recommends that after those five days, the person should wear a mask around people for another five days.
While some business owners said that the new guidance would mean they could have their asymptomatic workers who test positive back into the workplace sooner than before, many had mixed reactions about the development.
"Safety has always been our first priority, so I’m not really quick, even though I feel desperate at times for coverage, I’m not really quick to kind of compromise what comes first for us," said Keri Davis-Duffy who owns two Gila Rut Salons in San Diego with almost 60 employees.
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She says the company is experiencing record-high numbers of employees and clients getting sick over the last few weeks.
"It freaks me out a little bit to say, 'Oh, ok, well you tested positive for Covid, you’re asymptomatic and now you only have to be out for five days instead of 10 if you're vaccinated,'" she said.
Currently, Davis-Duffy followed previous CDC guidance and quarantined vaccinated workers who tested positive for 10 days.
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Jerel Tolentino is the Human Resources Manager for Woodstock's Pizza, which has seven locations across California and employs 420 people. He says, like many other businesses, Woodstock's is also seeing many of their workers having to take time off from work because they are sick. He says the company will follow the new CDC guidance, but they are strict if any worker shows symptoms. He says overall much of their staff are college students, who are young, healthy and mostly vaccinated.
"They're very vigilant to themselves, they have to get vaccinated, they’re mindful about going to quickly get a test if they feel any symptoms or they're exposed to anybody so that’s the good thing about our team members," he said.
The updated recommendations follow President Joe Biden declared on Monday, "there is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level."
San Diego County's number of coronavirus cases surged over the weekend, officials said, while the number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 surpassed 400.
