Americans are no longer required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to remain home from work or school for five days following a positive COVID-19 test.
This modification aligns the COVID-19 guidance with other respiratory viruses like the flu and RSV.
The simplified guidance encourages people to stay home when sick and symptomatic, regardless of the virus causing the illness. They can then resume normal activities if their symptoms improve and they remain fever-free for at least 24 hours without medication.
According to The Hill, CDC officials said the change recognizes that the COVID-19 landscape has changed immensely since the start of the viral outbreak in 2020 when businesses and schools were ordered to close, and people stayed home.
It is still an important health threat. said the agency. But it is no longer the emergency it once was.
"Today's announcement reflects the progress we have made in protecting against severe illness from COVID-19," CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in a statement. "However, we still must use the commonsense solutions we know work to protect ourselves and others from serious illness from respiratory this includes vaccination, treatment, and staying home when we get sick."
A Decline In Health Scares
Weekly emergency department visits and hospital admissions for COVID-19 have been decreasing since late December, and they are down more than 75 percent from the peak of the initial Omicron wave in January 2022, The Hill reported.
Despite a weekly average of approximately 2,000 deaths attributed to the virus, the agency notes a significant decline of more than 90 percent from the Omicron peak. In 2022, COVID-19 contributed to over 245,000 deaths, marking a substantial increase from the approximately 76,000 deaths recorded the previous year.
Other public health experts and officials said the new guidelines make sense because the message is simple.
"What we've seen is that flu hospitalizations have exceeded COVID hospitalizations this winter. So I think it's really important that people stay home when they're sick and can leave when they get better, and not just think about positive or negative if they have COVID," said David Margolius, public health director for the city of Cleveland.
He said the widespread availability of effective vaccines and treatments as well as underlying population immunity from prior infections, will make the change easier.
"We've always been dependent on what people will choose to do, and I think we're lucky at this point, with widespread immunity from vaccines and prior protection, that we can simplify the guidance," Margolius said.
