The senior White House medical adviser said on Sunday that with the surge of COVID-19 omicron variants in the United States, senior federal health officials are seeking to add a negative test while imposing a five-day quarantine restriction on asymptomatic Americans infected with the coronavirus. .

Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) stated that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now considering a negative test as part of its guidance after a major “opposition” to its updated recommendations last week. .

According to the December 27 guidelines, if a person infected with COVID-19 no longer feels symptoms or fever, the quarantine limit will be shortened from 10 days to 5 days. After that time, they were asked to wear masks when they were with others for the next five days.

Since then, the guidelines have been criticized by many health professionals for not specifying negative antigen testing as a requirement to leave the quarantine.

Fauci said: “People are worried about why we don’t require people to be tested within this five-day period.” “Look again, there may be an option, and the test may be part of it. CDC heard more about this.”

Fauci, a top American infectious disease expert, said that the number of new cases in the United States has almost “increased vertically.”

“We are definitely in the midst of a very serious surge and rise in cases,” he said. “The acceleration of cases we have seen is unprecedented, far beyond any situation we have seen before.”

Fauci said he is concerned that the omicron variant is overwhelming the healthcare system and causing “major damage” to other basic services.

Fauci said: “When I say major damage, you will definitely see that the system is under pressure, and the system is a person who does any kind of work…especially the key work that keeps society working.” “We already know that firefighting. Departments and police departments in different cities report that 10%, 20%, 25%, and sometimes even 30% of people are sick. This is something we need to pay attention to because we want to make sure that we don’t have such a big impact on society. The impact of this, so much that chaos really occurred. I hope this will not happen.”

Although there is “increasing evidence” that omicron may cause less serious diseases, he warns that these data are still too early. Fauci said he was particularly worried about the tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans because “a considerable number of them will develop serious illnesses.”

He urged Americans who have not yet been vaccinated and booster vaccinated to get vaccinated and wear masks indoors to protect themselves and curb the current surge in U.S. cases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said last week that preliminary studies have shown that rapid home tests can detect omicron, but may reduce sensitivity. The agency pointed out that it is still studying the test effects of the variant, which was first discovered in late November.

Fauci said that Americans “should not have the impression that these tests are worthless.”

“I think it is puzzling that rapid antigen testing has never been as sensitive as PCR testing,” Fauci said. “They are very good when they are done sequentially. So if you do it two or three times in a few days, at the end of the day, they are as good as PCR, but as a single test, they are not that sensitive.”

PCR testing usually needs to be performed in a laboratory. The test looks for the genetic material of the virus and copies it millions of times until it can be detected by a computer.

Fauci said that if Americans take the necessary precautions, the United States may soon return to some more normal lives.

Fauci said: “One of the things we hope is that this matter will reach its peak and get better in a few weeks.” He expressed his hope that omicron can be reduced to a sufficiently low level by February and March. “No Destroy our society, economy and way of life.”

Fauci spoke in ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union Address”.