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Credit:<\/span> Courtesy of DPH<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n The new guidelines<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Connecticut’s positivity rate for the week ending Thursday was 12.07 percent.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n As of Thursday, Connecticut has 325 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, down 27 from the previous week.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n The CDC also recommended two negative tests at home 48 hours apart before going out in public again without a mask.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n If both tests are negative, people can leave the house and not wear a mask around others.<\/p>\n 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 .<\/p>\n Massetti said the test to stay was no longer necessary because unvaccinated and vaccinated people are no longer recommended to quarantine.<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n State officials say Connecticut schools will to continue<\/a> to deliver test kits to students as needed.<\/p>\n Read more about it guidance <\/a>of the State Department of Education. <\/p>\n