The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is no longer recommending people with Covid-19 isolate for five days and is issuing combined guidance for respiratory illnesses rather than Covid-19-specific guidance, saying that Covid “remains an important public health threat, but it is no longer the emergency that it once was.”
Deaths from Covid-19 have dropped more than 90% since the peak of the omicron wave in early 2022, ... [+]
The CDC is now stating those with any respiratory virus symptoms that “are not better explained by another cause” are able to resume normal activities if their symptoms are improving and they’ve been fever-free for 24 hours without medication.
The new recommendation is meant to address “the period of greatest infectiousness and highest viral load for most people,” which is usually in the first few days of illness and when symptoms are the worst, the CDC said.
People who end isolation could remain contagious though, the CDC warned, and are still recommended to limit their close contact with other people and wear masks.
“Our goal here is to continue to protect those at risk for severe illness, while also reassuring folks that these recommendations are simple, clear, easy to understand and can be followed,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen told reporters Friday, the New York Times reported.
On Wednesday, the CDC formally recommended people 65 and older should get a Covid-19 booster shot this spring. In a press release, Cohen said adults 65 and older made up more than half of Covid-19 hospitalizations from October to December last year, but added “an additional vaccine dose can provide added protection that may have decreased over time for those at highest risk.”
90%. That’s how much deaths from Covid-19 have decreased since January 2022, which was the peak of the omicron wave, the CDC said. Hospitalizations from Covid-19 have also decreased significantly, dropping 75% since that January.