WDG Public Health Updates Self-Isolation Requirements
Growing evidence suggests that the fourth wave of the pandemic – fuelled by the Delta variant – requires additional measures to protect our community as we all seek to keep workplaces, childcare, public spaces and schools open and safe.
Starting immediately, WDG Public Health requires any non-vaccinated member of a high-risk contact’s household to stay home for the same self-isolation period as the household member who was exposed to COVID-19.
Because the Delta variant is so contagious, unvaccinated members of a household where someone has had a high-risk exposure should not attend school or child care, and should only leave home for essential reasons such as attending work, or picking up groceries and prescriptions. High-risk contacts and unvaccinated household members can return to school and other activities once their period of isolation ends.
High-risk contacts who are fully vaccinated do not need to isolate, as long as they remain symptom-free. In these scenarios, members of the high-risk contact’s household do not need to stay home.
“The Delta variant is different. It is more transmissible and is a threat to anyone who is not or cannot be vaccinated,” said Dr. Matthew Tenenbaum, Associate Medical Officer of Health. “We must continue to follow the science on COVID-19 and introduce additional measures wherever they can offer more protection. This new requirement will help limit transmission and help keep our region as open as possible as safely as possible.”
For more information on protecting yourself against COVID-19, please visit wdgpublichealth.ca/vaccine.
