“This guidance recognizes that the pandemic is not over, but it also helps us get 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 with your vaccinations and have been exposed to Covid, you no longer need to stay in quarantine. Instead, it is recommended to mask for 10 days and test on the fifth day. Assuming you test positive for Covid, here are the CDC’s updated guidelines:
If you are positive and have a healthy immune system, regardless of vaccination status, you should self-isolate for five days. Isolation can be ended 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 wearing a high-quality mask until Day 10. If, however, you are negative on two rapid antigen tests, you can stop wearing your mask earlier. At least until Day 11, you should avoid visiting or being around people who are more likely to have severe effects from Covid, including the elderly and those with weakened immune systems.
Those with weakened immune systems or people previously hospitalized with Covid are encouraged to self-isolate for 10 days and consult their doctor before ending isolation. Similarly, if you experience shortness of breath due to the virus, isolation for 10 days is recommended. That means students can now stay in class this fall even if they’ve been exposed to Covid, the CDC announced Wednesday. It is still recommended that students and school staff mask for 10 days and test 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. “The high levels of population immunity due to vaccination and prior infection and the many tools available to protect the general population and protect those at higher risk allow us to focus on protecting people from serious illness from Covid,” he said during a call with reporters on Thursday. Subscribe now: Get smarter about money and your career with our weekly newsletter Dont miss:
