After more than a week of waiting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally unveiled its new guidelines for isolation, quarantine and social distancing, but one of the biggest changes involves those who experience more severe symptoms of the virus.
The new guidelines propose different approaches for patients who experience traditional mild symptoms, including fever, cough and other cold-like issues, and those who experience more severe illness, including those who suffer from difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.
For patients who experience mild COVID infections, the recommendations have changed slightly. Patients no longer have to be symptom-free to get out of COVID isolation after five days, but they must be fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of medication, and they must be showing improvement in their COVID symptoms, according to officials.
Those patients are still recommended to wear a mask through Day 10 of their illness, and to try to avoid contact with those who are immunocompromised for at least 11 days after the onset of their infection, according to the new guidelines.
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The guidelines are different for those who have compromised immune systems, and also for those who are dealing with more severe symptoms of the virus, according to officials.
If a patient is immunocompromised, or has experienced shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, then they are recommended to remain in isolation for at least 10 days, according to the new guidelines.
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As an additional protective step, the CDC is also advising those patients to consult with a doctor before ending isolation. The new recommendations for physicians do include a viral test to demonstrate that the patient is no longer COVID-positive, but that is not a requirement, the CDC says.
The new CDC guidelines also included a series of changes to quarantine, with individuals now able to end quarantine five days after an exposure regardless of vaccination status.
The CDC says they made that change because of several factors, including patients being more contagious during the first five days after the onset of their infection, and because vaccinations are more effective at preventing severe illness or hospitalization, rather than at preventing symptomatic infection.
Finally, the CDC also made tweaks to its guidelines on social distancing, largely discarding the recommendation of maintaining six feet of distance in indoor spaces.
That will primarily have an impact on schools this fall, although districts will be encouraged to formulate COVID protection plans that work best for their students and staff.
A full list of guidelines and information can be found on the CDC’s website.
