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The CDC had shortened its isolation and quarantine recommendations, while clarifying that the guidance applies to kids as well as adults.
Under the new guidance, for people who catch COVID, testing is not required to emerge from five days of isolation instead of 10 days, much to the chagrin of some in the public.
Previously, anyone who tested positive was required to isolate for no less than 10 days.
The move comes as the nation combats growing concerns of the Omicron variant, which has rapidly become the dominant strain of COVID-19 across the world.
According to the CDC, anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 can leave isolation after five days provided they are free of fever or other symptoms.
However, officials added, "if an individual has access to a test and wants to test, the best approach is to use an antigen test towards the end of the 5-day isolation period."
If a rapid test then tests positive for the virus, one should continue to isolate for five more days.
The agency announced the changes last week, halving the isolation time for Americans who catch the coronavirus and have no symptoms or only brief illnesses. Isolation should only end if a person has been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications and if other symptoms have resolved themselves.
Federal officials cited more than 100 studies from 17 countries that found that transmission of the virus is most likely early during an infection, prompting the change in policy.
“We do need to come up with a strategy that limits isolation time, but we don’t want it to be one that’s adding to the spread of the virus and unwittingly leading to the virus circulating,” Dr. Eric Topol, the head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said to the AP.
The CDC also suggests that people exposed to the virus quarantine for five days, unless they have gotten booster shots or recently received their initial vaccine doses. agency. Anyone exposed — regardless of vaccination status — has been instructed to get tested five days later, if possible, to help curtail the spread of the virus.
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