CDC Ends Some COVID Safety Rules, Emphasizes Personal Risk

Aug. 11, 2022 – The CDC today announced that because there’s now less risk of “medically significant” COVID-19, some public health measures the agency recommended may no longer be necessary.

For example, CDC recommendations on https://www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus-isolation”>social distancing, quarantining, and testing children for COVID-19 while allowing them to stay in school – known as the test-to-stay strategy – may no longer be necessary for most Americans. The agency said high levels of https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-strengthen-immunity”>immunity from https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/covid-19-vaccine”>vaccinations and prior infections, along with effective treatments and tools that prevent spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, prompted the action.

But the agency also said people who know they have a high risk for severe COVID-19 should continue to practice a multi-layered approach to keeping themselves safe. Well-known strategies include improved ventilation, well-fitting masks, and testing as warranted.

The https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7133e1.htm?s_cid=mm7133e1_w”>new CDC guidance was published today in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The new recommendations emphasize the need to:

• Focus on ways to reduce risks for severe COVID-19.
• Monitor community COVID levels to guide prevention efforts.
• Give immunocompromised people better access to vaccinations and therapeutics.
• Continue offering reliable information so people at higher risk know their status.
• Ensure people get tested if they don’t have symptoms and isolate for 5 days or longer when infected.

“COVID-19 remains an ongoing public health threat,” the CDC COVID-19 Emergency Response Team members said in the new recommendations.

“However, high levels of vaccine- and infection-induced immunity and the availability of medical and nonpharmaceutical interventions have substantially reduced the risk for medically significant illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19.”