COVID-19 quarantine protocols updated

With COVID-19 cases on the rise across the state, it’s time to revisit the quarantine protocols for those infected, and their close contacts.

According to Lake Region District Health Unit Nurse, Danette Schmid, someone who has contracted COVID-19 must remain in quarantine for 10 days. However, that 10-day quarantine period is subtracted by the number of days from the time the symptoms began.

For example, if you test positive for COVID-19 after being ill for two days, the quarantine period would last for just eight days after the test. If there are no symptoms, the 10-day quarantine period begins immediately after the test is positive.

Quarantine gets a bit more complicated for close contacts, someone who's been within six feet of someone who tested positive for COVID-19 for longer than 15 minutes.

“If you’re a close contact there’s a few components,” explained Schmid. “They should technically quarantine for 14 days … but you can have optional early release from quarantine after day 10, if the close contact remains symptom free and wears a mask until day 14.”

Schmid added that close contacts can be released from quarantine after seven days, “if the close contact remains asymptomatic and gets a negative COVID test administered on day five or later, with continued symptom monitoring and masking until day 14.”

But as Schmid explains, household contacts are a completely different story. If one person in a household contracts COVID-19, he or she must remain in quarantine for 10 days before the rest of the family can begin their 14-day quarantine period as close contacts. In other words, a close contact of a family member under the same roof could be in quarantine for as long as 24 days.

However, there are a few ways to avoid quarantine altogether. If both the close contact and infected individual were masked during their encounter, they are exempt from any quarantine. The same is true for vaccinated individuals, so long as they’ve been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days, and have remained asymptomatic since their exposure to COVID-19.

The Lake Region District Health Unit has had all three vaccines available and have already begun delivering the Pfizer booster shots. If more than six months have passed since their previous dose, anybody 65 and older, and those with underlying health conditions between the ages of 50 and 64, qualify for the booster shot.

There is also some discretion for people under 50, so long as they work at an institution such as a nursing home. However, the shot is only available for those who got the Pfizer vaccine.

For more information about quarantine times or the Pfizer booster shot, contact the Lake Region District Health Unit at (701) 947-5311.

Cases remain low in Eddy County, with just one active case in the county as of press time. Neighboring counties’ caseloads have remained in the single digits, with five cases in Foster, four in Griggs and eight in Wells as of Wednesday.

The state, however, surpassed 4,000 active cases Wednesday for the first time since December 2020. More than 1,600 North Dakotans have died from COVID-19, and 128 residents were hospitalized due to the virus as of Wednesday.

Fifty-one percent of N.D. residents age 12 and over are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.