If you are a COVID-19 positive NFL coach, you can return to work just three days after testing negative for COVID-19. If you are a healthcare worker, you can return to work in 7 days after your first negative COVID-19 test. If you are a child in a public school in New Jersey and you come in ‘close contact’ with somebody who has COVID-19, you are forced to quarantine for 7-14 days, even if you never test positive for the virus.
Governor Phil Murphy and the NJEA call it science. Others call it child abuse and overreaching of government. Parents are fed up with it.
“While CDC and NJDOH continue to endorse 14 days as the preferred quarantine period– and thus the preferred school exclusion period – regardless of the community transmission level, it is recognized that any quarantine shorter than 14 days balances reduced burden against a small possibility of spreading the virus,” the NJ Department of Health said.
The NJ DOE and NJ DOH are not budging, but many others are. Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases across the country and the league, the NFL is altering its health and safety protocols. The league announced that it has updated COVID-19 protocols to “address the increase in cases and the advent of the Omicron variant.”
“Effective immediately, all clubs will implement preventative measures that have proven effective: masking regardless of vaccination status, remote or outdoor meetings, eliminating in-person meals, and no outside visitors while on team travel,” the league said in a statement. “We will continue to strongly encourage the booster shots as the most effective protection. Finally, and based on expert advice, we will adjust the return-to-participation requirements for those who have recovered from COVID-19.
The CDC this week announced changes in quarantine times for healthcare workers.
“Healthcare workers with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic can return to work after 7 days with a negative test, and that isolation time can be cut further if there are staffing shortages,” the CDC said. “Healthcare workers who have received all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses, including a booster, do not need to quarantine at home following high-risk exposures.”
In New Jersey, if your child walks past another person who later tests positive for COVID-19, they are forced to quarantine 7-14 days, even if they show no symptoms or signs and even test negative for the virus. During that quarantine period, students can attend remote classes if available. Others are put on modified at-home instruction.