These are terms that are often confused by the public. A quarantine involves restricting the moment of a healthy person who is suspected of exposure to a communicable disease, even if the person isn’t experiencing symptoms or doesn’t know if they have been exposed. The person is kept apart from the community during the time the pathogen is known to incubate and then become contagious to others.Isolation involves separating someone who is already sick and/or tested positive or a disease. The person is then kept apart from the community until they are no longer contagious. Quarantines and isolation may take place in the home, or other locations determined by health authorities.
