ADPH doctor explains CDC’s new COVID-19 calculator

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are down in Alabama. The threat of the coronavirus is on the decline, at least for now.

“If we’ve learned anything, we’ve learned that we can’t really predict what’s going to happen, but for right now we’re in the best situation we’ve been in for the last two years,” Alabama State Health Officer Scott Harris said.

With many people learning to live with the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created a new quarantine and isolation calculator to give folks an easier way of figuring out when it is beneficial to stay at home.

“It gives the public a way to walk through what it is that they need to do if they are either exposed or develop COVID-19,” said Dr. Wes Stubblefield with the Alabama Department of Public Health.

The doctor explained quarantine and isolation guidelines for vaccinated and unvaccinated people have not changed. The calculator is simply an additional tool to assist in these health-related decisions.

The online calculator takes less than a minute and can be accessed on your smartphone.

After going to the quarantine and isolation webpage on the CDC website, the calculator will ask you a series of questions on test results and close contacts before giving you a recommendation.

While the calculator is meant for the general public, some individuals should not rely on it.

“If you are moderately or severely immunocompromised, those guidelines change for you,” Stubblefield said. “So you need to talk to your health care provider, and those people know who they are.”

“The other thing that’s different is for health care facilities because the quarantine and isolation guidance for health care facilities is different than the general population,” Stubblefield said.

It is an additional level of protection almost anyone can turn to for quick advice.