Discontinuation of Transmission-Based Precautions and Return to Work Criteria for Healthcare Personnel. The major recommendations continue to be utilizing a symptom-based strategy (or time-based for asymptomatic cases) for determining when to discontinue transmission-based precautions or allow healthcare personnel to return to work. However, if you choose to use a test-based strategy (for example, you are concerned that someone might still be infectious beyond 20 days), here’s what you need:

• It has been more than 24 hours since the last fever, without the use of fever-reducing medication.
• Symptoms have improved.
• 2 consecutive negative nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) spaced at least 24 hours apart

The guidance also provides more information on who might be severely immunocompromised, adding to this category individuals who have received hematopoietic stem cell or solid organ transplants, individuals on immunosuppressive drugs to suppress rejection of transplanted organs or to treat rheumatologic conditions, and those who are on prednisone at >20 mg/day for more than 14 days.

Questions?

Contact: 

Laura Hofmann, MSN, RN – Director of Clinical and Nursing Facility Regulatory Services
c: 425-231-4804