Staying Fit
It’s been more than four years since the coronavirus started circulating in the U.S., and in that time, the official guidance on what you should do to avoid catching and spreading it has changed — and it's changing again.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on March 1 that people with COVID-19 can return to work, school and other activities if their symptoms are mild and improving, and they’ve been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the help of fever-reducing medicine.
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Once normal activities resume, additional prevention steps are recommended for at least five days to help curb disease spread.
These steps — wearing a mask, improving air quality in your home, keeping up with handwashing, and keeping a distance from others — are especially important for older adults and people who spend time around older adults, the CDC says. Seeking treatment for COVID-19 and staying up to date on vaccines is also key for older adults and others who are at higher risk for a severe case of COVID-19.
Previous COVID guidelines called for people to isolate for at least five days from the start of symptoms or a positive test, and to wear a mask though day 10 in order to avoid spreading the illness to others.
The CDC says the new guidance “brings a unified approach to addressing risks from a range of common respiratory viral illnesses, such as COVID-19, flu, and RSV, which can cause significant health impacts and strain on hospitals and health care workers.” A unified approach makes recommendations easier to follow, the public health agency says, and it makes it more likely that people will adopt them.
The change also “reflects how the circumstances around COVID-19 in particular have changed," the CDC said in a statement. “While it remains a threat, today it is far less likely to cause severe illness because of widespread immunity and improved tools to prevent and treat the disease.” At this point, the majority of people in the population have built up some sort of immunity to COVID-19, either through vaccination, infection or both, health experts say.
The updated guidelines are just for community settings; the CDC says; there are no changes to respiratory virus guidance for healthcare settings.
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