Ask The Answer Person: What's the difference between "isolation" and "quarantine" for COVID-19 cases?

Posted: Mon, Sep 21, 2020 3:16 PM

Karen asks what is the difference between the terms "isolation" and "quarantine" in regard to COVID cases?

The Answer Person says: "The CDC website has these general descriptions:

"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.

So for the latest Winneshiek County COVID-19 numbers, 29 people are in "isolation." That means these people have been tested for COVID-19 and the lab has confirmed they are a positive case. The people would now be separated from other people.

People put into isolation often have been in contact with several other people. Those other people would be put into quarantine. They also would be separated from other people, but not because they have tested positive for COVID-19, but because they had been in contact with someone who has tested positive.