The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for Covid-19 on Thursday, as the agency said the virus poses a lower risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death than it did in early 2020.
“This guidance recognizes that the pandemic is not over, but it also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 is no longer seriously disrupting our daily lives,” CDC epidemiologist Greta Massetti said in a statement.
If you are not up to date on your vaccines and have been exposed to Covid, you no longer need to quarantine. Instead, it is recommended that you wear a mask for 10 days and get tested on the fifth day.
Assuming you test positive for Covid, here are the CDC’s updated guidelines:
- If you test positive and have a healthy immune system, regardless of vaccination status, you should self-isolate for five days. Isolation can end on the sixth day if you no longer have symptoms or have not had a fever for 24 hours and your symptoms have improved.
- Once the isolation is over, the agency recommends you wear a high-quality mask until day 10. If you test negative on two rapid antigen tests, however, you can stop wearing your mask sooner.
- Until at least the 11th day, you should refrain from visiting or being around people who are more likely to have severe results from Covid, including the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.
Those with weakened immune systems or people who have previously been hospitalized with Covid are encouraged to self-isolate for 10 days and consult their doctor before ending isolation. Similarly, if you are experiencing shortness of breath due to the virus, we recommend that you self-isolate for 10 days.
That means students can now stay in the classroom this fall even if they’ve been exposed to Covid, the CDC said Wednesday. It is still recommended that students and school staff mask for 10 days and be tested on the fifth day in case of exposure.
The impetus for this decision may come from a new statistic: 95% of the US population has some level of immunity to Covid, according to Massetti.
“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,” she said during talk to reporters on Thursday.
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