Virginia Department of Health issues new COVID recommendations

RICHMOND, Va.- Today, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced because of substantial levels of COVID-19 community transmission, local health departments may need to prioritize contact tracing efforts for key elements of the population.

During this time of significantly high case volume, traditional methods of contact tracing are less effective.

This means that some local health departments, as necessary, may not be contacting everyone with COVID-19 infection or close contacts to someone with COVID-19 infection.

Per new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), VDH may prioritize follow-up of cases and tracing of close contacts for the following groups:

People diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past six days and their household contacts
People living or working in or visiting congregate living facilities
People involved in known clusters or outbreaks
People at increased risk of severe illness

Case investigation and contact tracing are an essential and impactful part of the COVID-19 response in Virginia, and nearly 2,000 public health professionals have been hired since May 2020 in local health departments to do this work.

During times like these, everyone must be proactive in following public health recommendations that include:

Wear a mask
Practice social distancing
Wash your hands on a regular basis
Stay home whenever possible
Avoid gatherings outside of your household
Download COVIDWISE, the VDH exposure notification app
Use the CDC and VDH websites for accurate, reliable, and updated information

VDH and CDC continue to recommend a quarantine period of 14 days.

However, CDC guidance now includes two additional options for how long quarantine should last.

The safest option is still to quarantine for 14 days after last exposure.

Any quarantine shorter than 14 days balances reduced burden against a small possibility of spreading the virus.

The two additional options for shortened quarantine are for people without symptoms to end quarantine after day 10 without testing, or after day 7 with a negative PCR or negative antigen test performed on or after day 5.

It is still important to watch for symptoms of COVID-19 until 14 days after exposure and to take other prevention measures including wearing a mask, distancing, and frequent hand washing.