The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday that people who test positive for COVID-19 only need to isolate for five days until their symptoms stop. . The agency said in a statement that the change in isolation guidelines from 10 days to five days is based on data showing people with COVID-19 showing symptoms before and others during a few days after. likely to be contagious.
The CDC said that after leaving isolation, people should wear masks around others for five additional days.
The CDC also said on Monday that people who have not received a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine but received a second dose of the mRNA vaccine six months ago, or who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine two months ago , they should quarantine for five. days if they come into contact with someone with COVID-19. This is a change from the previous guidelines, which stated that people who have been fully vaccinated need not be quarantined if they come in contact with someone with the disease.
Changes to isolation guidelines for people sick with COVID-19 The CDC states that health care workers only need to isolate for seven days if they test positive for the virus, unless That they are asymptomatic and have tested negative on the seventh day. The United Kingdom also shortened its recommended isolation period to seven days, as long as people test negative on the sixth and seventh day.
Today's new guidelines from the CDC for the general public in the United States do not include a recommendation to take a test at the end of the five-day isolation period.
The highly contagious Omicron variant is causing an unprecedented rise in COVID-19 cases, and in many places, more people are testing positive for the virus each day than ever before. As a result, the CDC has faced pressure from various industries, including airlines, to reduce staff shortages from people who tested positive and missing ten days of work.
Public health experts say a shorter isolation period is supported by research on the virus. However, people should really be fine if they are going to return to everyday activities. "What I don't want to see is people being used as an excuse to come back when they're unwell," Megan Rainey, an emergency physician and an associate dean in the School of Public Health at Brown University, tells SELF. , told the New York Times.