What The CDC's Potential New COVID Isolation Rules Mean For You

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering changing its COVID-19 isolation guidance, marking a shift from how we currently attempt to prevent the spread of the illness.

The current rules instruct folks to isolate for at leastfive days once they test positive, but The Washington Post reported that the new guidelines would instead depend on symptoms. If you’re fever-free without medication for 24 hours and have mild or improving symptoms, you can end isolation.

Any changes to guidelines would not happen until at least April, according to NPR.

“It sounds like they’re not considering doing this until after we’re done with this respiratory viral season, which certainly makes sense,” said Dr. Kristin Englund, a staff member of the department of infectious disease at Cleveland Clinic. “We still have a lot of different viruses, whether it be influenza, some RSV, or there’s certainly still an amount of COVID that’s circulating in all of the communities right now.”

Regardless, this would be a big transition from the current protocols. While some would argue that it’s dangerous, others also point out that not everyone can afford isolation. Here’s what infectious disease experts think of the potential change:

These proposed guidelines rely on personal responsibility and prior immunity.

“In general… we shouldn’t go to work when we’re sick, and so what this proposed change would do ― in my view ― is normalize COVID, along with other respiratory viral infections like influenza or RSV, or the many other viruses that can cause respiratory illness,” said Dr. Mark J. Mulligan, the director of the NYU Langone Vaccine Center.

Mulligan stressed that it’s our personal responsibility to be honest about our symptoms and to