CDC to drop five-day Covid isolation guidelines for people who test positive - after nearly four years

• Health agency would instead urge people to decide when to end isolation
• Those with mild and improving symptoms, but no fever, don’t need to isolate
• READ MORE: Damning report slams US for shutting schools for too long 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to drop its five-day Covid isolation guideline, reports suggest — nearly four years after the pandemic began.

Under new guidelines, the health agency will instead urge people who test positive for the virus to end isolation based on their symptoms.

Those with mild and improving symptoms, and no fever for at least 24 hours, would no longer need to stay away from work and school, they suggest.

The tweak will not apply to people in hospitals and other healthcare settings, however, who will still be asked to isolate for five days if they catch the virus.

The CDC is planning to scrap its five-day Covid isolation guideline – nearly four years after the pandemic began

CDC officials decided on the shift during an internal meeting, the Washington Post reports, after noting the Covid landscape ‘had changed’.

They suggested the guideline could be relaxed because virtually every American now had immunity against Covid — either from vaccination or past infection or both.

The new guidelines still need to be signed off by the White House, with the CDC expecting to be able to release them in April for public comment.

This period lasts for 30 to 60 days, with officials then addressing comments before formally updating the guidelines.

Dr Michael Osterholm, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Minnesota, said: ‘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.’

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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