2024-02-14 21:46:00
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 14, 2024 (HealthDay News) — New guidelines proposed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that Americans who test positive for COVID-19 They no longer have to routinely stay home for five days.
This is the first time the agency has considered relaxing its COVID isolation guidelines since 2021, and the idea behind the possible change is to align them with similar flu and RSV guidelines, according to four agency officials and an expert familiar with with the discussions, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
However, the CDC later said in a statement that it had “no updates to COVID guidance to announce at this time,” adding that it would “continue to make decisions based on the best evidence and science to keep communities healthy.” and safe,” NBC News reported.
Whatever the CDC decides to do, most Americans have now developed a level of immunity to the virus due to prior infection and/or vaccination, and that requires a more thoughtful approach, experts said.
“Public health has to be realistic,” Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, told the Post. “When making recommendations to the public today, we have to try to make the most of what people are willing to do… You can be absolutely right in science and yet accomplish nothing because no one will listen to you.”
In proposed guidance, the CDC is weighing plans to recommend that people who test positive for COVID use symptoms as a guide to decide whether to isolate for five days, the Post reported.
Infected people would no longer need to stay home if they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the help of medication and their symptoms are mild and improving, three agency officials who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Post.
The CDC’s possible change follows similar actions already taken by Oregon and California.
Still, relaxing COVID isolation guidelines when the science around the virus’s infectiousness hasn’t changed might anger vulnerable groups, CDC officials and experts told the Post.
Relaxing the guidelines “sweeps this serious disease under the rug,” Dr. Lara Jirmanus, a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and a member of the People’s CDC, a coalition of health care workers, told the Post. scientists and advocates focused on reducing the harmful effects of COVID-19.
Public health authorities should treat COVID differently from other respiratory viruses because it is more lethal than the flu and poses a risk of persistent symptoms known as long COVID, he said. Nearly 7 percent of Americans report having persistent COVID symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog and joint pain, CDC data shows.
The proposed recommendations would not apply to hospitals and other health care settings with more vulnerable populations, CDC officials told the Post.
Lower rates of COVID hospitalizations were among the reasons California shortened its five-day isolation recommendation last month, urging people to stay home until they are fever-free for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild. and improve. Oregon made a similar move last May.
It’s unclear whether the CDC’s updated guidance will still recommend wearing masks for 10 days if you become infected, the Post reported.
Doctors say the best way for sick people to protect their communities is to wear masks or avoid traveling outside the home if they are infected.
“You see a lot of people with symptoms, you don’t know if they have COVID, flu or RSV, but in those three cases, they probably shouldn’t be in Target, coughing and looking sick,” Dr. Eli Perencevich, a professor of University of Iowa Internal Medicine.
More information
Visit the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) page for updated guidance on COVID isolation.
SOURCE: Washington Post; NBC News
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