First reported by The Washington Post on Feb. 13, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to update its COVID-19 isolation guidance in the spring. Individuals will no longer need to isolate once they have been free of a fever for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild or improving.
An article from CNN reporting on the original article from The Washington Post says that “The Post cited four unnamed agency officials and said the planned shift was discussed internally last week and in a briefing with state health officials.”
In 2021, the CDC recommended people isolate for a minimum of five days if they tested positive for COVID-19 and continue to mask. “The updated guidance would bring Covid-19 in line with guidance for other respiratory viruses, such as flu,” adds the article from CNN.
Further, “CNN previously reported that California and Oregon had recently broken with CDC’s guidance to say that people who test positive for COVID-19 are no longer expected to isolate for a set period of time — and those without symptoms don’t have to isolate at all.”
William Schaffner, M.D. an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, was quoted in the article regarding the JN.1 variant. “It’s producing a lot of mild infection. Lots of people are not even testing,” Schaffner said.
