American Health Authorities Lower Guard, Welcome Living With COVID

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released a new COVID-19 guideline giving Americans new advice on how to live with the virus. This policy shift comes as the U.S. reported an average of 137,600 new cases this week, with no deaths.

The latest update lifts the requirements to quarantine if exposed to the virus, screen people with no symptoms, and in schools, individuals are no longer required to test after potential exposure.

In the update, the CDC is:

• Continuing to promote the importance of being up to date with vaccination to protect against serious illness, hospitalization, and death.
• Updating its guidance for people who are not up to date on COVID-19 vaccines on what to do if exposed to someone with COVID-19.
• Recommending that instead of quarantining if you were exposed to COVID-19, you wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and get tested on day 5.
• Reiterating that regardless of vaccination status, you should isolate yourself from others when you have COVID-19.
• You should also isolate if you are sick and suspect that you have COVID-19 but do not yet have test results.
• If your results are positive, follow CDC’s full isolation recommendations.
• If your results are negative, you can end your isolation.
• Recommending that if you test positive for COVID-19, you stay home for at least 5 days and isolate yourself from others in your home. You are likely most infectious during these first 5 days.
• If after 5 days you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication, and your symptoms are improving, or you never had symptoms, you may end isolation after day 5.
• Regardless of when you end isolation, avoid being around people who are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19 until at least day 11.
• You should wear a high-quality mask through day 10.
• Recommending that if you had moderate illness (if you experienced shortness of breath or had difficulty breathing) or severe illness (you were hospitalized) due to COVID-19 or you have a weakened immune system, you need to isolate through day 10.
• Recommending that if you had severe illness or have a weakened immune system, consult your doctor before ending isolation. Ending isolation without a viral test may not be an option for you. I
• Clarifying that after you have ended isolation, if your COVID-19 symptoms worsen, restart your isolation at day 0.
• Recommending screening testing of asymptomatic people without known exposures will no longer be recommended in most community settings.
• Emphasizing that physical distance is just one component of how to protect yourself and others.
• The CDC also reported this week that the number of patients newly admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 averaged 6,003 between August 3 -9, a 2.6% drop compared to the previous week.