New infections will continue until morale improves

The Centers for Disease Control gave everyone an extra bit of coal in their stocking in the form of a new guidance for workers infected with Covid but asymptomatic.

Previously, the CDC recommended that people isolate for a minimum 10 days if they test positive for Covid but don’t display any symptoms. But earlier this week, the centers eased that recommendation down to five days, claiming that current science shows that “the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1–2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2–3 days after.”

The eased guidance comes as the world is scrambling to deal with a massive Omicron variant outbreak. Hospitals in many states have filled up with Covid cases again, children are showing up at emergency rooms in greater numbers than seen before. Many nations have decided to go back into lock down in order to preserve public health.

But not the United States. Americans are known for an almost psychopathic devotion to work and productivity throughout history, and capitalists have shown no compunction about putting workers in danger to produce a slight bump in stock value. And the country’s approach to Covid has been consistent with this from the beginning.

Former president Donald Trump was heavily criticized for politicizing his Covid response in a way to maximize economic activity. During last year’s election, now-president Joe Biden claimed he would follow the science. Since taking office however, Biden has also followed the economy at all costs model.

He famously held a dramatic press conference where he and Vice President Kamala Harris ripped off their masks and the government has been reluctant to recommend some other basic safety precautions since then.

This week’s CDC guideline change feels the same. The news release announcing the change didn’t cite any specific scientific studies or data. It seems that the change is more in service of employers dealing with hiring and personnel shortage than public health.

Even the CDC announcement said that most transmissions occur 1–2 days prior to display of symptoms, but many experts believe that the time between an initial positive test and the display of symptoms could be as long as 14 days, though most begin showing symptoms in the first 5 days.

The new guidance doesn’t leave any margin for error, especially with a new variant that has already shown itself to be highly contagious. In fact, the new guidance could possibly hurt employers more in the long run than the old policy.

If an employee tests positive and comes back in five days, but still spreads the virus to two other employees, that’s 15 days of lost work for employers, rather than 10. In other words, the greatest business risk to capitalists is actually the continued spread of the disease, not lost productivity from infected workers.

It’s time that those in charge start recognizing that risk.