CDC Covid Guidelines

Protection provided by the current vaccine against symptomatic infection and transmission is less than that against severe disease and diminishes over time, ...

If you are unsure if your symptoms are moderate or severe or if you have a weakened immune system, talk to a healthcare provider for further guidance. - Clarifying that after you have ended isolation, if your COVID-19 symptoms worsen, restart your isolation at day 0. - Emphasizing that physical distance is just one component of how to protect yourself and others. - Recommending that if you test positive for COVID-19, you stay home for at least 5 days and isolate from others in your home. - Continuing to promote the importance of beingup to date with vaccinationto protect people against serious illness, hospitalization, and death. COVID-19 continues to circulate globally, however, with so many tools available to us for reducing COVID-19 severity, there is significantly less risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death compared to earlier in the pandemic.

The new guidelines eliminate quarantines and put less emphasis on social distancing, routine surveillance testing and contact tracing.

Among adults 65 and older, who are at highest risk of severe disease, 65 percent have received a booster. Many health experts praised the new guidelines as representing a pragmatic approach to living with the virus in the longer term. The new guidelines are geared toward protecting people from severe illness, Dr. Massetti added. Just 30 percent of 5- to 11-year-olds and 60 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds have received their primary vaccine series nationwide. Routine surveillance testing of people without symptoms is no longer recommended in most settings. The changes signal a new phase of the pandemic, officials and experts said.

As back-to-school approaches the CDC no longer recommends quarantining if exposed to the omicron virus.

The number of new Covid cases hover just over 100,000 per day, on average. Schools tend to shut down only during severe flu outbreaks. "This is essential for their social and emotional development, physical and mental health, and academic success." According to the CDC's data tracker, 91,676,264 Covid cases have been reported in the U.S. since the beginning of the pandemic. "High levels of population immunity due to vaccination and previous infection and the many available tools to protect the general population and protect people at higher risk allow us to focus on protecting people from serious illness from Covid," she said. "The updated CDC guidance recognizes that the best place for children is in the classroom and that this can be done safely with acceptable levels of risk," Dr. Richard Besser, a pediatrician and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said in an email.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the nation should move away from restrictive measures such as quarantines and social distancing and ...

The agency also stresses the use of antiviral medications in people who catch Covid-19 and are at higher risk for severe outcomes. Instead, let's ensure these tools are available and accessible: vaccines, testing and masks (and no stigma for those who mask)," Weingarten wrote in an email to CNN. High-risk people should also wear quality masks when the community level is medium, as it now is in 39% of counties. It's especially helpful for people who can't mount an immune response, and experts say it has been underutilized in this country. This group includes people who are older or unvaccinated or those who have certain medical conditions that put them at higher risk. "I think that this is a point where you actually have to sort of get real and start giving people tools they can use to do something or not. Chin-Hong thinks some states, like California, will continue to go beyond the CDC's guidance in their own recommendations, but by and large, he thinks these reflect the prevailing attitudes toward the pandemic. They aim to help people live their lives around Covid-19 with minimal disruptions to work and school. It also says people who test positive should stay home for at least five days and wear a mask around others for 10 days. People with compromised immune systems should now talk to their doctor about ending their isolation after an infection. It encourages testing for people with symptoms and their close contacts. Nearly the entire US population has at least some immunity through vaccination, previous infection or, in some cases, both.