READY FOR AN APPEARANCE
Here’s why health experts say it’s OK
Gov. Ralph Northam, who has been infected by the coronavirus, is set to attend a press conference today. He hasn’t yet had a negative test, but health experts say that’s OK.
Despite not having test confirmation to prove he no longer has the coronavirus, Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to hold a press conference in person Tuesday.
Administration officials said Northam has not taken any follow-up tests since his illness. That’s because they are adhering to new recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that don’t rely on negative test results to determine when someone may come out of isolation for COVID-19.
“We’re really steering everyone away from testing for clearance based on the evolving CDC guidance,” said Dr. Danny Avula, director of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts.
Avula’s department gave Northam the green light to come out of isolation. The agency led the contacttracing efforts surrounding his and his wife Pamela Northam’s cases, which were announced on Sept. 25.
Questions over when a person is no longer considered contagious have recently dominated the news because of President Donald Trump’s experience with COVID-19 and his decision to step out again. Public health experts now say that some level of positivity can remain for a long period of time after an infection, even after a person is no longer a threat of spreading the virus to others .
Research shows that a person’s contagious period could range from one to two days before the onset of symptoms to seven or eight days after. For mild cases of the coronavirus, the CDC is recommending that patients isolate for 10 days after their symptoms started.
The Virginia Department of Health recommends that a person with COVID-19 be released from isolation using a “timebased” or “symptombased” strategy.
For a person who never experiences symptoms, the time-based strategy is encouraged, Avula said. In this strategy, if a person tests positive for COVID-19, never had any symptoms, and is directed to care for himself at home, the person can be released from isolation 10 days after the first positive test.
Initially, the governor did not have symptoms but developed them later. The symptom-based strategy lets patients leave isolation 10 days after the symptoms started and after having at least a day with no fever and no fever-reducing medicine. If other symptoms, such as loss of taste, have resolved, they’re free to go.
Avula said the need to pursue negative testing has become a big issue, especially for people who need to go back to work.
“It has been a challenge to get employers to back off asking for a negative test before bringing employees back,” he said.
Alena Yarmosky, a spokeswoman f or Northam, said the governor, who is a pediatric neurologist, has followed all public health protocols. None of his or the first lady’s 65 close contacts have tested positive, she said.
The administration is also taking precautions to prevent transmission of the virus at public events.
During the press conference Tuesday, news outlets are being asked to use a livestream video feed from a shared camera to help maintain social-distancing recommendations. Masks are required at the event, she said.
Reporters are allowed to attend in person, though a call-in option is also available to ask questions remotely.