Comment on Iowa breaks from CDC by softening quarantine rules for COVID-19

JOHNSTON — Iowa is breaking with federal guidance on quarantine recommendations in a move that could allow more students to remain in school after coming into contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19.Gov. Kim Reynolds and state epidemiologist Dr. Caitlin Pedati on Tuesday announced that state guidelines will no longer recommend people quarantine after coming in contact with a person who tests positive for COVID-19 if both individuals were wearing face masks.Previously, the state recommended any person who came into close contact with someone who tested positive for the infection should quarantine for two weeks — masks or no.Under the new guidance, that person would not have to quarantine if both individuals were wearing face masks during the close contact.Reynolds said the decision was made after talking with school leaders and examining state public health data.“Public health has had a lot of conversations with school administrators and families about their experiences in quarantine, and the fact that we don’t frequently see additional infection in situations where people have been wearing face coverings,” Pedati said Tuesday during the governor’s news conference at Iowa PBS studios.Pedati conceded the policy breaks with recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says a person could still be a close contact even if he or she was wearing a mask while around someone with COVID-19.“Masks are meant to protect other people in case you are infected, and not to protect you from becoming infected,” the CDC website says to the question.Pedati said the state studied four school districts in northwest Iowa where the virus is spreading rapidly and case counts are elevated.