©Reuters. A family isolates themselves at home amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Shoreline, Washington, U.S., March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
(Reuters) – The U.S. CDC on Friday dropped its five-day isolation recommendations for COVID-19 under new guidance, instead suggesting that people return to normal activities if symptoms improve and they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without the need for drugs.
The guidelines had not been updated since December 2021, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reduced the recommended isolation time for Americans with asymptomatic cases from 10 to five days.
“The CDC is updating recommendations now because the United States is experiencing many fewer hospitalizations and deaths associated with COVID-19 and because we have more tools than ever to fight influenza, COVID and RSV,” the agency said in a note.
The CDC recommended that once people resume normal activities, they adopt additional prevention strategies, including maintaining distance from others, for the next five days to curb the spread of the disease.
The agency’s recommendations include strengthened precautions to protect people most at risk of severe disease, including those over 65 and people with weakened immune systems.
CDC data estimates that nearly 92.3% of COVID-19 cases in the United States for the two weeks ending Saturday were caused by the JN.1 subvariant, classified as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization.
The agency on Wednesday approved the use of the updated COVID vaccines as the second annual vaccination for adults 65 and older.
According to CDC estimates, about 22% of adults in the United States have received the updated COVID vaccine for the 2023-24 vaccination season, including nearly 42% of people age 65 and older.