With COVID-19 Numbers On The Rise, Puerto Rico DOH Updates Quarantine And Isolation Guidelines

• Published date: 01 June 2022
• Subject Matter: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Employment and Workforce Wellbeing, Reporting and Compliance
• Law Firm: Littler Mendelson
• Author: Mr Alberto Tabales-Maldonado and Irene Viera Matta

The Puerto Rico Department of Health (PR DOH) has issued new Guidelines for Case Investigation and Contact Tracing for COVID-19 (Guidelines). These provide updates to previously issued quarantine and isolation guidelines. With COVID-19 positivity rates nearing 30% on the Island, employers are struggling to maintain their operations while complying with PR DOH guidelines on quarantine and isolation. The following is a summary of the latest requirements.

Definitions

We begin by recapping certain important definitions.

Close contact includes any person exposed to a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19, at a distance of less than 6 feet for at least 15 cumulative minutes in a 24-hour period.

Fully vaccinated is defined as follows, pursuant to applicable age groups:

Adults age 50 and older or immunocompromised individuals	Initial series of vaccination completed and, if eligible, second booster administered four months after the initial booster.
Adults age 18 and older	Initial series of Pfizer or Moderna or single dose of Janssen vaccines, as well as a vaccine booster if eligible.
Teenagers age 12 through 17	Initial series of Pfizer vaccine, as well as a vaccine booster if eligible.
Children age 5 through 11	Initial series of Pfizer vaccine.

With regards to the terms isolation and quarantine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides an easy distinction between both: quarantine keeps someone who might have been exposed to the virus away from others; isolation keeps someone who is infected with the virus away from others, even in their home. Thus, a person will need to quarantine when they suspect exposure to a transmittable disease, but once they confirm infection, isolation is required.

Isolation

According to the Guidelines, the following are the four potential scenarios for COVID-19 isolation in Puerto Rico:

Fully vaccinated asymptomatic individuals	Isolation for five days after taking the sample indicating in a positive antigen or molecular test result and continue to wear a mask until the 10th day after taking the sample indicating the positive result.1
Fully vaccinated individuals with mild to moderate symptoms	Isolation for seven days after the onset of symptoms. These individuals should continue to wear a mask until the 10th day after symptom onset.
Individuals who are not fully vaccinated or are unvaccinated	Isolation for 10 days after onset of symptoms or receipt of a positive test result.
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