On Thursday, the nation's top public health agency eased guidelines on COVID-19, allowing Americans to self-quarantine if they come into close contact with an infected person. withdrawn the recommendation to do so.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said people don't have to stay at least six feet from other people.
This shift, he said, more than two and a half years after the pandemic began, an estimated 95 percent of Americans over the age of 16 have been vaccinated or infected, agency officials said. Stated.
"The current state of this pandemic is very different from what it was in the last two years," said Greta Masetti of her CDC, author of the guidelines.
Although the CDC's recommendations apply to everyone in the United States, this change can be especially important for schools. Schools will resume classes in many parts of the country this month.
Perhaps the biggest change related to education is the end of the recommendation that schools conduct regular daily testing, although in certain circumstances where infections are surging
The CDC is also encouraging COVID-19-exposed students to stay in school, instead of isolating at home, on a regular basis, officials said. Dropped the "test to stay" recommendation that said testing could be done. Since the quarantine recommendation is gone, so is the inspection option.
Masks continue to be recommended only in areas deemed to have high community transmission or where the risk of severe illness is deemed high.
School districts across the country have scaled back their COVID-19 precautions in recent weeks, even before the CDC eased guidance.
Masks will be an option in most school districts when classes resume this fall. Some of the nation's largest school districts have reduced or eliminated COVID-19 testing requirements.
Others are staying away from the Test Stay program, which has gotten out of hand in the last year's proliferation of omicron variants. With so many new infections among students and staff, many schools struggled to trace and test close contacts, temporarily returning to distance learning in some locations.
Average reported COVID-19 cases and deaths remained relatively flat this summer, at about 100,000 cases and 300 to 400 deaths per day.
The CDC previously said that if a person who has not been vaccinated for COVID-19 has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, he should stay home for at least five days. rice field. Authorities have now said no home quarantine is required, but are urging these people to wear high-quality masks for 10 days and get tested after five. , continues to say that anyone who tests positive, whether vaccinated or not, should be quarantined from others for at least five days. CDC officials advise people can exit isolation if they have had no fever for 24 hours without the use of drugs and have no symptoms or their symptoms have improved.
