The change is a sign of how much has changed since the pandemic began more than two years ago. Almost the entire US population has at least some immunity through vaccination, previous infection, or, in some cases, both.
“The current conditions of this pandemic are very different from those of the past two years,” Greta Massetti, who directs the CDC’s Division of Field Epidemiology and Prevention, said Thursday.
“High levels of population immunity due to vaccination and prior infection and the many tools available to protect the general population and protect people at higher risk allow us to focus on protecting people from serious illness from Covid-19.”
The CDC’s new guidelines say contact tracing, another hallmark during the pandemic, should be limited to hospitals and certain high-risk group living situations, such as nursing homes, and the guidelines de-emphasize the use of regular screening tests for Covid-19, except in certain high-risk environments such as nursing homes and prisons.
The new guidelines also advise against quarantining people who have been exposed to Covid-19 but are not infected.
But management is keeping some measures the same. It encourages testing of people with symptoms and their close contacts. It also says people who test positive should stay home for at least five days and wear a mask around others for 10 days. It also continues to recommend that people wear masks indoors in about half the country.
The new guidelines also adjust isolation advice for people who have become very ill with Covid-19. People with moderate symptoms – such as shortness of breath – and those who have been hospitalized should stay home for at least 10 days. People with compromised immune systems should now talk to their doctor about ending isolation after an infection.
There’s new advice on what to do if your Covid-19 symptoms come back too. If you end isolation and your Covid-19 symptoms worsen, you should start isolation again and see your doctor.
I try to meet people where they are
The changes are confirmation that SARS-CoV-2 may be with us for the long term. They aim to help people live their lives around Covid-19 with minimal disruption to work and school. They are also more risk-based, advising people who are at higher risk of serious illness to take more personal precautions than others.
“I think they’re just generally aligning with what people are doing anyway,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.
Chin-Hong believes some states, such as California, will continue to go beyond CDC guidelines in their own recommendations, but overall, he believes they reflect prevailing attitudes toward the pandemic. He sees this as a move by the CDC to try to regain the public’s trust.
A recent survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that most Americans (54%) no longer wear masks indoors, and about 4 in 10 say they have fully returned to their pre-pandemic routines — up from 16% in January.
“What I think the CDC is trying to do is they’re trying to stay relevant and maybe when they say something, people will listen to them instead of being completely 180 degrees away from what the behavior is anyway “, Chin- Hong said.
Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, agrees that the new guidelines show the CDC is trying to meet people where they are.
“I think this is a point where you actually have to get real and start giving people tools that they can use to do something or not. Because otherwise people just won’t take you seriously,” Hanage said.
But other experts believe the new guidelines don’t go far enough to correct scientific errors in previous guidelines.
“This revision does not come close enough to correcting the problems of faulty recommendations and lack of evidence,” Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, said in an email to CNN. Topol has been critical of the CDC for months, saying it has not been strict enough with its policies for isolating people with Covid.
The latest advice on how to stay safe from Covid
CDC recommends that Covid-19 prevention practices continue to depend on an individual’s risk of becoming severely ill and the levels of Covid-19 in the community. Community rates reflect community cases as well as hospitalization rates and hospital capacity.
When the level of Covid in the community is high – as it currently is in 41% of counties – the CDC continues to recommend that everyone wear high-quality masks indoors. People at high risk should also wear quality masks when the community level is average, as it is now in 39% of counties.
The agency is also putting more emphasis on improving ventilation. Aerosol scientists have long complained that the 6-foot social distancing guidelines are arbitrary and useless because the virus that causes Covid-19 can be airborne for greater distances.
The CDC continues to emphasize the use of vaccines and therapeutics to reduce “medically significant illness” in Covid-19. For the general population, the agency noted that vaccination and booster treatment is a strong protective agent against severe disease and death. He urges everyone to keep up with their shots.
In addition to vaccination, the CDC urges additional measures for people with suppressed immune function, including the use of Evusheld, a type of passive immunity that is given before a person gets sick. It’s especially helpful for people who can’t mount an immune response, and experts say it’s underused in this country.
The agency also emphasizes the use of antiviral drugs in people who are infected with Covid-19 and are at higher risk of severe outcomes. This group includes people who are older or unvaccinated, or those who have certain medical conditions that put them at higher risk. Conditions that increase risk include being overweight and obese, pregnancy, smoking, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and mental conditions including depression.
“These recent changes recognize the importance of protecting those most at risk of serious illness, while standardizing some basic good hygiene practices for long-term public health for those less at risk.” said Laurie Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
“It’s important that we make it as easy as possible for people to continue to protect themselves and others around them as we live with Covid,” Freeman said in an email to CNN.
Covid guide for schools
Some of the guidance changes will apply to schools.
The agency removed the recommendation that children in different classrooms avoid mixing, a practice known as clustering. It also removed advice that children who are contacts of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 take regular tests – and test negative – to stay in the classroom, which was known as test-to-stay .
Some educators said they don’t expect the CDC’s updated guidelines to change much, at least for this school year.
“We welcome clear, concise, and actionable guidance from the CDC. Specific to this latest round, we don’t expect it to be particularly disruptive or impactful in schools,” said Noel Ellerson Ng, associate executive director of advocacy and governance at AASA, the Association of School Administrators.
Many districts have finalized their detection plans and mitigation strategies and are sticking with what worked the previous school year to keep kids in school learning.
Randy Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation’s largest teachers unions, said the new guidelines are welcome news for schools.
“Covid-19 and other viruses are still with us, but with multiple prevention and treatment options available, now is not the time for new mandates. Instead, let’s make sure those tools are available and accessible: vaccines, tests and masks (and no stigma for those who do), Weingarten wrote in an email to CNN.
CNN’s Daniel Herman and Neeraj G. Patel contributed to this report.
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