Air China flight crews in hazmat suits walk through Los Angeles International Airport, Nov. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Taiwan’s government has rejected U.S. health authorities’ guidance change which shortens the quarantine from 10 days to five for asymptomatic Americans — a move that will impact Americans traveling to the Chinese country.
Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced on Dec. 30 that it will not follow U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance on shortened quarantines because some imported omicron cases have been found to be infectious up to 12 days after testing positive, Taiwan News reported.
The CDC said that asymptomatic people, after isolation, should follow five days of wearing a mask when around others.
It also recommended a five-day quarantine for those exposed to the virus who are unvaccinated or are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose or more than two months after the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and not yet boosted.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top medical adviser to the U.S. government, said it was reasonable to test people without symptoms in the last five days of isolation. The CDC faced backlash for cutting isolation from 10 to five for people who have no symptoms.
“There has been some concern about why we don’t ask people at that five-day period to get tested,” Fauci told ABC News. “That is something that is now under consideration.”
Philip Lo, deputy head of the CECC, said at a press briefing that more than 80 percent of the omicron variant cases detected in Taiwan were discovered upon arrival from other countries, including the U.S., while the rest tested positive within six days after entering the country.
Currently, Taiwan only releases travelers from covid-19 quarantine 10 days after the onset of symptoms or after a positive test followed by two consecutive negative tests results.
Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, Taiwan — population 27.3 million — has confirmed 17,050 covid-19 cases, of which 14,436 are domestic infections reported since May 15, 2021, when the country first recorded more than 100 cases in a single day.
Photo: Air China flight crew members in hazmat suits walk through the arrivals area at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
