IDPH adopted the CDC recommendations on isolation and quarantine for the general public who are asymptomatic on Dec. 30 2021 and the McLean County Health Department has adopted the IDPH’s adoption.
“Please keep in mind there is a difference between quarantine (for those who were exposed to someone who has tested positive) and isolation (for those who test positive). As mentioned in the IDPH Release, the updated quarantine and isolation time frames do not apply for certain groups and settings. Schools, congregate settings, and healthcare personnel should continue following their respective guidance,” said Marianne Manko, the MCHDPublic Affairs Coordinator.
Unit 5 and District 87 have their own guidelines for quarantines that are no that of the CDC nor the Health Department, yet the MCHD does assist the schools in contact tracing and isolation of students who test positively. CDC is recommending a five day period of isolation followed by an additional five days of masking with “well fitting masks”. CDC says this new shortened five day isolation is to “facilitate social and well-being needs” while getting people back to work.
In order to get back to work you might need a letter from the MCHD that says you completed isolation. A few employers in the Bloomington-Normal area are requesting that letter.
“Letters are not provided by the MCHD on an individual basis, but as part of the monitoring process. These are not letters issued directly by the MCHD, but auto-generated based on the completion of monitoring,” said Manko. “Copies of those letters, or mock copies, are not available to the general public. If the positive case works with the contact tracer handling their case (before the case is closed), whether that is MCHD or the state Surge Center, and completes the daily assessments as part of their isolation monitoring, they should receive a letter that releases them from isolation. The state is in the process of a centralization of the contact tracing program. After Jan. 13 the majority of cases will be handled by the state Surge Center and not the local health department (MCHD).”
