Breaking news this morning: President Trump and his wife have tested positive for COVID and are currently in isolation at the White House.
I don’t know about you, but for the past few weeks I’ve been muddling over the terms “quarantine” and “isolation”, which are so often used in the same sentence. This morning’s news prompted me to finally settle the issue.
Both quarantine and isolation are used to describe situations in which people separate themselves from other people to prevent the spread of illness. The difference in the terms has to do with the purpose and length of the situation, not so much with what each situation looks like. They both amount to the same thing: separation from others.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
- Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick.
- Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick.
People go into isolation when they know for sure they are sick. They must stay away from other people for ten days from the day their symptoms developed OR from the day of their positive test result, AND fever has not occurred for 24 hours, AND other symptoms have resolved.
People go into quarantine after they have close contact with someone who is confirmed sick and are waiting to see if they develop illness. This usually involves waiting for test results and symptoms. It’s very important for people who have had exposure to COVID to quarantine for the full 14 days, even if they feel healthy, because the illness can take up to two weeks to show up, and because they can still spread the virus to other people even if they feel fine.
Read more on when to quarantine here.
So, do you get the difference now? I hope so! What are some other terms floating around in the news these days that confuse you? I’d be happy to try and clarify.
Also, check out my posts on other COVID terms like pandemic.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
I suppose, technically, people should stay in quarantine for 40 days.
Hi Peter! Thanks for stopping by! I’m not sure what quarantine you are referring to, but for COVID 19, the U.S. CDC recommends 14 days.
Sorry. I was being pedantic about the origin of the word, not what is medically recommended.
Ha! The Word Nerd should have picked up on that! 😉 Thanks for clarifying.
George and I were just discussing this last night!! What a great explanation!! Thank you.
Glad it was helpful, Stephanie! Thanks for reading. 🤓
I’m still confused, Julia. I now understand the reason why people go into ‘isolation’ or ‘quarantine’. But what’s the difference in the actual situation? Doesn’t someone in quarantine have to stay away from people too?
Good question! Yes, in both cases, people separate themselves from others. I could not find any information about a difference in what the separation looks like in each case. Let me know if you do! I updated my post to try to make that more clear. Thanks for reading!