(WWJ) - Test positive for COVID? Well, pretty soon you won't have to quarantine as the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention prepares to scale back isolation guidelines, according to a new report from the Washington Post.
The CDC is expected to release new guidance in the coming weeks that would reduce the isolation period for those that test positive for Covid-19 from five days to 24 hours.
According to The Washington Post, the new recommendation advises that patients would no longer need to isolate once they have been fever-free for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild or improving.
Four unnamed agency officials quoted by the Post said the shift was brought up in internal discussions last week and in a briefing with state health officials where high immunity levels due to vaccines and those that had been previously infected were said to have spurred the change.
The Washington Post also stated that the availability of medications to treat the virus also helped the decision along.
The CDC stated there are no changes to the agency’s isolation guidelines to announce “at this time," CNN reported. An internal memo sent out last month said the new guidance could drop in April.
The guidance is not expected to change protocols already in place at hospitals and other health-care settings due to having more vulnerable populations.
It is currently unknown if the recommendation for anyone that comes down with the virus to mask up for 10 days will be reduced or dropped.
“We will continue to make decisions based on the best evidence and science to keep communities healthy and safe,” said Dave Daigle, a spokesperson for the CDC.
Back in 2021, the CDC recommended patients who test positive for the disease to stay at home for least five days and then mask up when out and about.
The new COVID-19 guidelines would make it similar with guidance for other respiratory viruses, such as flu.
So far, data collected from wastewater and published by the CDC supports that COVID-19 is still very prevalent in the U.S., but the agency stated “infections are causing severe disease less frequently than earlier in the pandemic.”