The CDC plans to do away with its five-day COVID isolation guidance, aiming to put the recommendations more in line with those for flu and respiratory syncytial virus, officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.
The loosened guidance — which the agency plans to release in April for public feedback — will recommend that isolation is no longer needed once someone has been fever-free for at least 24 hours without medication and their symptoms are improving. The guidance would not apply to healthcare settings with vulnerable populations, according to the report.
Isolation guidance was last updated in December 2021, when the agency cut the isolation period for people with asymptomatic infections from 10 days to five. The CDC had been considering revised isolation guidance since last summer, but those efforts were paused as COVID-19 cases rose in the fall, agency officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Post.
The CDC's website lists separate interim guidance for managing healthcare personnel with COVID-19. Those recommendations state that healthcare workers with mild to moderate illness may return to work at least seven days after symptoms manifest if a negative viral test is obtained within 48 hours before returning to work, symptoms have improved, and at least 24 hours have passed fever-free without the use of medications. Read more here.