COVID Isolation Guidelines Changing, Reports Say: What It Means In NY

NEW YORK — For the first time in three years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to ease its isolation guidance for people who test positive for COVID-19, The Washington Post first reported, citing agency officials.

Currently, the CDC encourages all people — regardless of vaccination status — to isolate from others for five days when they have COVID-19. According to The Washington Post, the updated guidelines will say isolation is unnecessary once a person has been fever-free for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild or improving.

The new CDC recommendations will more closely align its guidance with flu and RSV. The Post report cited four agency officials and an expert familiar with the talks.

The current CDC guidance says anyone who tests positive should isolate for at least five days and isolate from others in their home, as they are “likely most infectious." Existing protocols also say people should isolate themselves if they are sick and suspect they have COVID-19 but do not yet have test results.

The report comes as COVID-19-related hospital admissions fell 10 percent last week across the United States, and deaths fell 6 percent. In New York, hospitalizations fell 16 percent last week, according to the latest data.

Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, told the Post that public health “has to be realistic.”

“In making recommendations to the public today, we have to try to get the most out of what people are willing to do. … You can be absolutely right in the science and yet accomplish nothing because no one will listen to you,” he said.