03/02/2024

The CDC Dropped Its COVID-19 Isolation Guidelines

However, experts are split over the action

On March 1, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dropped its long-standing recommendation that people with COVID-19 should isolate themselves for at least five days to avoid spreading the disease.

Instead of the five-day rule, the CDC now recommends that people stay home until they've been fever-free for at least 24 hours without medication and their symptoms are generally improving. Once they’re feeling better, they can resume normal life—though the agency recommends taking extra precautions for five days after leaving home, including limiting close contact with others, moving activities outside and wearing a mask around others. If someone’s symptoms worsen or their fever returns, they should revert to staying home.

That shift, which echoes similar moves in California and Oregon, streamlines the CDC’s recommendations for COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. The agency’s website now lists the same advice for people sick with respiratory illnesses including COVID-19, the flu, and RSV, and its page on COVID-19-specific isolation has been archived.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.