CDC changes COVID-19 quarantine guidelines

The CDC has announced new quarantine guidelines for individuals who've come into contact with someone infected with COVID-19.

The guidance of a 14-day quarantine period is still considered the safest way to prevent the virus' spread; however, two additional time periods have been suggested. Now, an individual can end their quarantine 10 days after contact if no symptoms have occurred during daily monitoring. Additionally, if you get a negative test on day 7 and if no symptoms occur during daily monitoring, quarantine can end.

Under the latter scenario, the test may be performed on days 5, 6 or 7 of quarantine but not before. If the test is negative, quarantine can end on day 8 with continued daily monitoring for symptoms until day 14. The test used to determine the presence of the virus cannot be a rapid result test.

A mask must be worn in both cases for the full 14 days and continued symptom monitoring must take place during that time. According to O'Brien County Public Health, the guideline changes are effective immediately.

• Reporting changes lead to death increase

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) on Monday announced a change in the way it reports deaths attributed to COVID-19 "to better align with national and state reporting."

"As we learn more about the virus and testing expands significantly, Iowa like many states has changed its methodology," the agency stated in a release.

The change retroactively increased the number of coronavirus-related deaths in O'Brien County from 32 to 42 and from seven to eight in Clay County. Statewide deaths increased from 2,721 to 2,898.

According to IDPH, the new methodology will be consistent with the way the CDC reports deaths nationally and enhance the accuracy of reporting, as counts will be tied directly to official death records. It is based on the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) cause-of-death coding.

Despite the increase in deaths attributed to the reporting change, infection numbers in O'Brien and Clay counties showed slight improvements in some areas over the past week.

Fourteen-day COVID-19 positivity rates in O'Brien and Clay counties remained relatively flat. O'Brien County's was at 18.8 percent on Wednesday morning, down from 19.9 percent the week before. Clay County was up from 19.6 percent to 20.3. Statewide, the positivity rate declined from 16.9 percent last Wednesday to 15.7 percent.

O'Brien County has recorded 1,024 recoveries since the pandemic began while Clay County has tallied 830. Overall infections in O'Brien County were up 141 over the past week to 1,464, while Clay County's increased 115 to 1,318.

As of Monday, there were 898 Iowans hospitalized with coronavirus-related complications. That number is down from 1,172 the same time last week. Three were from O'Brien County and eight were from Clay County.