NORFOLK, Va. — While the Centers for Disease Control relaxed its COVID-19 isolation guidelines on Friday, medical experts said it doesn't mean the virus is gone.
Per the latest guidelines, people who test positive for COVID-19 no longer need to isolate for at least five days. Once you're fever-free for 24 hours, without the help of medication, you do not need to isolate and can resume normal activity.
Even after you resume normal activity, it's still best to take precautions, said Karen McGoldrick, a clinical infection preventionist at Sentara Leigh Hospital.
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"You should still realize that you might still be contagious, and you should mask, be in well-ventilated areas," McGoldrick said. "Those are the same recommendations for anyone that has the flu, or any other respiratory illness."
Bottom line, it's important to stay home if you're sick, she said.
Health experts said COVID vaccines, increasing immunity and declines in death and hospitalizations are all factors in the CDC's latest guidelines.
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“COVID-19 is still an important public health threat, but it is not the emergency it once was," said Dr. Brendan Jackson, lead for CDC’s Respiratory Virus Response.
Sentara officials said this does not change the COVID-19 isolation protocols inside of its hospitals.
"If they're in the hospital, they're more acutely ill than the average person that's sitting at home. So they need to have that 10 days of isolation," McGoldrick said. "We'd base it on the first from the first day of the first symptom or the first test, whichever is first."
