The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has continued to roll back COVID-19 guidance, announcing on Thursday that it is no longer recommending that people with known exposure to the virus be isolated if they are exposed to the virus. vaccine update. Instead, the agency recommends wearing masks in indoor public places and testing for the virus after five days.
In a statement, the agency said that the move is streamlining its COVID-19 guidance. It appears that no other changes have been made to the national Covid guidelines. Now, a person with known exposure to the virus must quarantine for at least five days if they don’t update their vaccines. This means receiving at least two booster shots for people over the age of 50 and at least one booster shot for younger people.
The change comes as the US Covid situation remains stagnant and public fear of the virus continues to subside. The summer surge caused by the BA.5 variant that many experts fear will never materialize, and the case and death figures have remained in a steady range for months.
As of Thursday, the US recorded 109.663 new cases per day, a six percent drop in the previous week. The number of deaths caused by Covid has increased 24% in the past week to 570 people a day.
People who have been exposed to COVID-19 are now required to isolate for a longer period of time for five days according to new CDC guidelines. Instead, they should wear a mask indoors when around other people before going for the test on Thursday
Dr Greta Massetti said: ‘We are in a stronger place today as a country, with more tools – like vaccinations, boosters and treatments – to protect ourselves. our loved ones and communities recover from severe illness from COVID-19,” Dr. Greta Massetti said in a CDC statement.
‘We also have a better understanding of how to protect people from exposure to the virus, such as wearing high-quality masks, testing and improving ventilation. This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move towards a point where COVID-19 no longer has a serious impact on our daily lives. ‘
The five-day period is the incubation period for the virus, which is usually that period after exposure.
This is the first major change to Covid guidance made by the nation’s top agency on the pandemic since it lifted guidance on face masks in transit.
As of the release of this new guidance, the only people required to quarantine are those who have tested positive for the virus – for at least five days – or those who have not been vaccinated.
The US Covid situation has largely stagnated in recent months. The 109.633 daily recorded cases remain at the bottom end of the range of cases still in since May.
While the death toll has increased, 570 a day is still a relatively low number compared to early spring.
Many experts fear that this would not have been the case just a few weeks ago. Variant BA.5 quickly took the world by storm in late Spring and early summer after being first discovered in South Africa.
This variant initially caused cases to rise as it became the nation’s dominant strain, but the massive surge some expected never materialized.
Variant BA.5 (dark green) accounts for about 87% of active cases in the US according to the most recent data from the CDC
The most recent data from the CDC earlier this week shows that this variant now accounts for 87% of cases in the US – eliminating previous forms of the virus.
The BA.4 variant discovered in South Africa around this same time accounted for about 6.6% of cases – while the BA line 4.6 accounted for about 5% of the cases sequenced.
The previously dominant BA 2.12.1 variant now accounts for less than two percent of infections. The ‘stealth’ variant BA.2 and the original BA.1 strain of Omicron were almost completely wiped out.
CDC may feel more comfortable loosening guidelines as new vaccines become available.
Earlier this year, a top advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted in favor of improving the COVID-19 vaccine to specifically target the Omicron variant.
The injections currently available are formulated to fight the original Wuhan virus strain that overwhelmed the world in early 2020.
In the time since, the virus has mutated to evade the protection against infection provided by those shots. Retailing injections to combat the Omicron variant could reduce the viability of the virus – allowing for looser guidelines.
