Credit: Courtesy of DPH
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened its COVID-19 guidelines on Thursday, freeing schools and businesses from requiring students and workers to self-quarantine at home if they have been exposed to the virus.
The changes mean that anyone exposed, vaccinated or unvaccinated, can wear a mask for 10 days, instead of being quarantined at home. The CDC previously advised that people who were not vaccinated or who had not received their booster shots should self-quarantine for five days after exposure. Quarantine could end at this point after the fifth day if no symptoms appear.
The new guidelines they are announced just as school is about to start in Connecticut, although classes have already started in many other states. Connecticut reported 34 deaths from COVID-19 over the past week, the highest total for a seven-day period since mid-May.
Connecticut’s positivity rate for the week ending Thursday was 12.07 percent.
Cases have increased in recent weeks amid the spread of the BA.5 subvariant and are currently at or near their highest levels in months. More than 81.6% of cases are the new BA.5 subvariant in Connecticut.
As of Thursday, Connecticut has 325 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, down 27 from the previous week.
“Today we are in a stronger place as a nation, with more tools, including vaccinations, boosters and treatments, to protect ourselves and our communities from serious illness from COVID-19,” said Dr. Greta Massetti, chief of the CDC’s Field Epidemiology and Prevention Branch, said in a statement.
“This guidance recognizes that the pandemic is not over, but it also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives,” he said.
The CDC also recommended two negative tests at home 48 hours apart before going out in public again without a mask.
The new guidance recommends that people get their first test on the sixth day of isolation if they don’t have a fever, with a quick second test 48 hours later.
If both tests are negative, people can leave the house and not wear a mask around others.
The CDC also said it was no longer recommending that schools use the stay-in test, allowing students who were close contacts of those who tested positive for COVID to continue attending in-person classes as long as they remain asymptomatic and continue giving negatives .
Massetti said the test to stay was no longer necessary because unvaccinated and vaccinated people are no longer recommended to quarantine.
Connecticut instituted a face-to-face program last November before lifting school mask mandates. It meant that testing was no longer necessary after an exposure at school, only symptoms were detected.
State officials say Connecticut schools will to continue to deliver test kits to students as needed.
Read more about it guidance of the State Department of Education.