LANSING – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has updated guidance on COVID-19 quarantine periods to conform its standards to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday, Dec. 2.

The CDC now gives the options to reduce the required number of quarantine days for individuals with known exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 case. The existing 14-day recommendation was based on earlier data that estimated the COVID-19 incubation period. At the national level, estimates of the COVID-19 incubation period have been refined based on a review of case data for hundreds of thousands of cases, MDHHS said.

Data from that assessment indicates that 99 percent of all infections will develop within 10 days of exposure. The health agency says that while a 14-day quarantine period is still standard, under certain conditions the CDC has presented an option for reducing the quarantine period for exposed individuals to 10 days after exposure.

Based on the evaluation of the CDC information, MDHHS is updating guidance to allow the change to the quarantine period for Michigan residents in specific situations. While the standard 14-day quarantine period remains, it can be reduced to 10 days if the following two conditions exist:

• The individual does not develop any symptoms or clinical evidence of COVID-19 infection during daily symptom monitoring for the 10 days after the last exposure.
• Daily symptom monitoring continues through day 14 after the last exposure.

“We are basing this recommendation on scientific data from CDC and offering the opportunity to reduce the quarantine period to 10 days in certain circumstances,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health. “Public health officials can still require the 14-day period as this option most greatly mitigates the possibility of transmission. We strongly urge the continued use of masks, social distancing and hand washing to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

Dr. Joneigh Khaldun

With consideration for existing and potential limitations on the availability of testing resources and concerns of increased turnaround time for lab results, MDHHS is currently reviewing options for further reduction of quarantine periods based on diagnostic testing results. MDHHS guidance may be updated at a later date based on that review.

As of Thursday, the state reported a total of 380,343 positive cases of COVID-19 and 9,580 deaths since March.

Testing has also increased in recent weeks, with more than 45,000 diagnostic tests reported per day, but the positive rate has increased to near 13 percent over the last week and hospitals are reporting that their ICU beds are near or above 80 percent capacity.

Of those positive cases, 5,569 are reported in Dearborn, with 133 deaths and 2,741 have been reported in Dearborn Heights, with 83 deaths.

Wayne County, excluding Detroit, has had 42,486 positive COVID cases and 1,418 deaths.