CDC to issue guidance ending 5-day COVID isolation: Report

(NewsNation) — New planned guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will say Americans who test positive for COVID-19 no longer need to routinely stay home from work and school for five days, The Washington Post reported. 

Instead, the CDC plans to recommend that those who test positive use “clinical symptoms” to determine when to stop isolating. Three agency officials who spoke to The Washington Post said people would no longer have to stay home if they were fever-free for at least 24 hours without medication and their symptoms were “mild and improving.” 

In an article published Tuesday, The Washington Post said the CDC is changing its coronavirus isolation recommendations to align them with guidance on how to avoid spreading flu and RSV. 

Should these new guidelines be approved, it would be the first time since 2021 that the CDC loosened its COVID isolation suggestions. Back then, the move was from a 10-day isolation to five. 

CDC officials told the Post new isolation recommendations would not apply to hospitals and other health care settings.

Currently, the CDC also says to wear a COVID mask for 10 days after testing positive, though the Washington Post said it’s not clear whether updated guidance would continue this practice.

CDC spokesperson David Daigle said in an email to NewsNation that there are no updates to COVID guidelines to announce at this time. 

“We will continue to make decisions based on the best evidence and science to keep communities healthy and safe,” Daigle said. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on the potential guidance when asked at a briefing Tuesday. 

“CDC’s going through their process, going through their guidelines,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. “I don’t want to get ahead of that.”

While the CDC is expected, per the Washington Post, to release this updated guidance in April for the public to see, an agency official said this timing could “move around a bit.”