Isolation vs Quarantine

Diffen › English Language › Grammar › Words

People who are ill with a contagious disease are put into isolation to prevent the disease from spreading. Healthy individuals who have been exposed to a dangerous contagious disease are put into quarantine.

Comparison chart

Isolation versus Quarantine comparison chart
	Isolation	Quarantine
Used for	People who are ill with contagious diseases	People who have been exposed to a contagious disease, but are not sick
Process	Receive care for the disease, with precautions put into place (such as protective clothing for doctors) to prevent the spread of the disease.	Individuals are separated from others who have not been exposed to the disease, and can receive vaccinations, antibiotics, early diagnostic testing and symptom monitoring.
Length	Period of infectiousness for the disease.	Incubation period of the disease.
Location	Hospital, care facility or patient’s home.	Home, designated emergency facility or a specialized hospital.

Apollo11 crew in quarantine. L to R Neil A. Armstrong; Michael Collins; Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. and President Nixon welcoming the crew

Meaning

Isolation is the process in which people who are known to be ill with a dangerous, contagious disease are treated to prevent the disease from spreading.

Quarantine is the process in which people who have been exposed to an infectious disease, but are not yet known to be ill, are kept separate from others and monitored. Quarantine can also apply to buildings, cargo, animals etc. that have been exposed to dangerous diseased and are closed off or kept apart from the public.

Process

People in isolation receive care for their disease, separate from others, with precautions put into place to protect doctors such as wearing protective clothing. They are usually cared for in a hospital or in a care facility, but occasionally receive care in their home.

People in quarantine are separated from others who have not been exposed to the disease. They receive vaccinations and antibiotics, diagnostic testing and symptom monitoring, and immediate treatment if they do fall ill. Quarantine takes place in a person’s home, in a designated emergency facility, or in a specialized hospital.