Louisiana Now Following Updated CDC Quarantine Guidelines

With the news on Monday, December 7th that the state of Louisiana had another 1,016 cases of coronavirus reported, there is also an update about the quarantine guidelines that the state has been following since the pandemic began.

The Centers for Disease Control had previously recommended a 14 day quarantine period if you were exposed to someone who tested positive for coronavirus. That data has been upgraded recently to a 10 day quarantine, but remains the same for those in "congregate" settings, like prisons and nursing homes, according to WBRZ in Baton Rouge.

On Monday Louisiana Department of Health officials announced that they will be following CDC guidelines to lower the quarantine time period to 10 days for those who have been exposed to the coronavirus. They also added that anyone who received a negative COVID-19 test can now be asked to quarantine for as little as seven days. Schools across the state of Louisiana have generally followed the same guidelines, and are expected to do the same, starting this week.

Yesterday Louisiana had 1,423 hospitalizations, 161 patients on ventilators, and 23 new deaths, bringing the total deaths from COVID-19 in the state to 6,607. So far 3,728,845 tests have been given in Louisiana, and 202,891 patients have recovered since the pandemic began.