CNN’s Dana Bash questioned the CDC’s updated isolation guidelines while speaking to Dr. Anthony Fauci, asking if the decision is “driven by science.”

Fauci sat down with Bash on Sunday’s State of the Union, during which the CNN anchor asked about the CDC’s decision to shorten the isolation for Covid-19 patients from 10 days to five.

Bash noted that the CDC has come under fire from some public health experts who have taken issue with their decision to enact “relaxed quarantine guidelines,” especially amid a surge of omicron cases.

CNN’s medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner compared the updated guideline to when in 2020, “the public was told we didn’t need masks when in reality, the problem was the U.S. Didn’t have masks.”

“You’ve always promised to follow science, Dr. Fauci,” Bash continued. “Is this driven by science or by the social and business pressure we were talking about?”

“There’s no doubt that you do want to get people out into the workplace if they are without symptoms, and in the second half of a ten-day period, which would normally be a ten-day isolation period, the likelihood of transmissibility is considerably lower in that second half of a five — of a ten-day period, and for that reason, the CDC made the judgment that it would be relatively low risk to get people out,” Fauci explained.

The infectious disease expert noted the public’s concern with the shorter isolation period, agreeing that it’s reasonable for people to question why a negative test is not also required before leaving quarantine.

“I believe that the CDC soon will be coming out with more clarification of that, since it obviously has generated a number of questions about at that five-day period, should you or should you not be testing people,” he said, later adding that, “it’s something that absolutely should be considered.”

Fauci went on to confirm that he is in favor of testing people before they end their isolation periods.

Watch above, via CNN.

The post Dana Bash Pushes Fauci on ‘Relaxed’ Covid Isolation Guidelines: ‘Is This Driven By Science or By the Social and Business Pressure?’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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