While roughly half of adults approve of the recent decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to shorten the isolation period for some people with COVID-19, the public is split on how they think the move will affect health care workers and U.S. public health, new Morning Consult polling shows.
What you need to know:
- The public was divided on whether it thinks the updated isolation period will help or hurt health care workers, with 36 percent saying the guidance will mostly help and 32 percent saying it will mostly hurt them. Another 12 percent said there would be no impact on health care workers, and about 1 in 5 said they didn’t know or had no opinion.
- Adults were more confident about how the new guidance will affect other types of workers and businesses: 42 percent, for example, said they thought the new isolation period would help large businesses, while only 17 percent said it would hurt them.
- Asked why they thought the CDC shortened the isolation period for some people with COVID-19, 51 percent of adults said the move was intended to boost the economy, while 25 percent said it was to protect public health and curb the spread of the virus. Men were more likely than women to say the decision was a bid to help public health, 30 percent to 20 percent.
The survey was conducted Jan. 5, 2022, among 2,200 U.S. adults, with a 2-point margin of error.