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Medicine United States

CDC Drops Quarantine, Distancing Recommendations For COVID-19 159

The nation's top public health agency relaxed its COVID-19 guidelines Thursday, dropping the recommendation that Americans quarantine themselves if they come into close contact with an infected person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said people no longer need to stay at least 6 feet away from others. The Associated Press reports: The changes, which come more than 2 1/2 years after the start of the pandemic, are driven by a recognition that an estimated 95% of Americans 16 and older have acquired some level of immunity, either from being vaccinated or infected, agency officials said. "The current conditions of this pandemic are very different from those of the last two years," said the CDC's Greta Massetti, an author of the guidelines.

Perhaps the biggest education-related change is the end of the recommendation that schools do routine daily testing, although that practice can be reinstated in certain situations during a surge in infections, officials said. The CDC also dropped a "test-to-stay" recommendation, which said students exposed to COVID-19 could regularly test -- instead of quarantining at home -- to keep attending school. With no quarantine recommendation anymore, the testing option disappeared too. Masks continue to be recommended only in areas where community transmission is deemed high, or if a person is considered at high risk of severe illness.
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CDC Drops Quarantine, Distancing Recommendations For COVID-19

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  • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday August 11, 2022 @04:51PM (#62781706)

    I have a lot better idea - at this point, drop all restrictions since Covid is really not worth worrying over compared to other things like flu.

    Instead, issue a blanket recommendation going forward that if people are coughing or sneezing or simply feel really bad, they should stay home and away from others until they are better.

    That would head off flu cases rising again after dropping from covid precautions. And it would do a great deal to head off or slow the spread of any future virus.

    • by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Thursday August 11, 2022 @04:58PM (#62781732) Homepage Journal

      I always got angry at coworkers who would show up at the office even though they obviously had a cold, as if to show how devoted they were. They just got us all sick.

      Now I get to work from home all the time. Problem solved.

      • Working from home and quarentines are the 1st step needed into moving us into a virtual world for interactions.

    • by zeeky boogy doog ( 8381659 ) on Thursday August 11, 2022 @05:25PM (#62781838)

      Instead, issue a blanket recommendation going forward that if people are coughing or sneezing or simply feel really bad, they should stay home and away from others until they are better.

      Maybe they should even make it a law and bring something every other non-disaster-zone country takes for granted to America: universal paid sick leave.

      This just in... people will go to work sick and be plague rats if the alternative is losing their job, or losing pay they can't afford to lose.

  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Thursday August 11, 2022 @04:54PM (#62781720)
    Than anything else. I can tell you that where I work and where my friends work people are getting sick left and right and it lingers for weeks. I don't see a lot of people dying anymore but Google says there were 872 deaths yesterday. The actual average though is around 480 over 7 days. That still seems high even accounting for the fact that 90% of those are pretty old. Even if 90% or old 10% is still almost 50 people a day dying who are pretty young...

    The trouble is we know we're going to get hit harder in winter so the CDC is likely backing off because they don't think they can get people to keep on their toes indefinitely. So the idea is to take a hit right now so that in the winter they can tighten things up.

    I'll say that I do not want to get it. I've been lucky so far. Like win the lottery lucky. The people I know who got it while they haven't dropped dead and had a rough three four weeks.
    • C'mon, iTs jUsT tHe fLu.

      ... What do you mean the flu doesn't kill 20000 people a month in the middle of summer and leave over 20 million people of all ages with debilitating multi-organ damage?
    • by erice ( 13380 )

      The trouble is we know we're going to get hit harder in winter so the CDC is likely backing off because they don't think they can get people to keep on their toes indefinitely. So the idea is to take a hit right now so that in the winter they can tighten things up.

      The trouble with that idea is that the political wind does not permit going backward. Once a policy is relaxed, it is seldom reinstated even if the virus conditions become much worse than they were the relaxation occurred. By dropping the quarantine requirements now, the CDC is nearly guaranteeing that there will never be quarantine requirements.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Some additional justification was in TFS. The vast majority of people now have at least some covid immunity even if unvaccinated. The part left unsaid is that there's no mechanism that one can really use to enforce quarantine after exposure.
      • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        At this point, for the most part, it's not a pandemic, it's just endemic.

        We have treatment options, we have vaccines, and we're pretty much at the point where everyone who wants a shot gets a shot, and anyone who's not getting it isn't getting one. Those who get a shot, probably don't even realize they caught it and dealt with it, and those who didn't, well, get to suffer from the 1-in-3 chance of getting long COVID.

        So it's probably better to just drop the requirements, and let people do as they may - if yo

    • They're probably looking at this. Here's total deaths from all causes. This time last year we were ramping up for fourth wave, right now looks back to normal.

      https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/... [cdc.gov]

      We looked like we were in the clear last summer too when the vaccines were just rolled out, before the fourth wave, and I think 4&5 was a victory lap through the unvaccinated. I don't think there's a reason to expect another wave now (I mean deaths, not infections). Just my armchair quarterback analysis.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • and were asymptomatic. Also, you probably know some people who got it and were asymptomatic, but obviously you don't know that they got it.
  • The way I see it... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dddux ( 3656447 ) on Thursday August 11, 2022 @05:54PM (#62781956)

    Is that governments are frightened of ruining their country's economies any further, so they are generally giving up and just letting people do whatever they like, no matter how many people die. In my country they dropped almost all of the measures, but the number of cases is pretty high and the number of deaths, too. My feeling is - they just can't *afford* to care any more. I feel left to my own devices, especially because I'm in a high-risk group, plus my immune system isn't great.

    I continue to wear mask in all confined spaces [stores etc.] including public transport because judging by the results of these relaxations I'm not at all convinced it is the right thing to do just yet. I'm going to also get vaccinated for the 4th time soon as it's been more than 6 months since my last vax. I feel like at least wearing a mask in confined spaces should have stayed mandatory to protect the less health-fortunate people from getting it. It just feels like a reasonable thing to do, but tourism and economy has a precedence now.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's not just the "less health-fortunate" that need protecting. Anyone can get Long COVID no matter how healthy they are to begin with.

      Long COVID is going to be the next big economic crisis. With millions of people unable to work, or at least on reduced hours, it's going to damage our economies. There is already a shortage of workers in many industries, so the last thing we need is more people dropping out of the workforce. Many countries look after the chronically ill too, i.e. there will be more benefit p

  • So what about the people who haven't had COVID yet? Screw you now you can get covid?
    • The current strain of covid is just a sniffle that lasts about three days. If you cannot handle that, then I dont have much hope for you.
      • Well i would prefer not to isolate myself and lose the pay. Also they have found physical brain and neurological brain damage in 90% of cases. Even mild ones.
  • âoe We could be dealing with large annual death tolls from COVID for the next 50 yearsâ..then unfortunately that is the shitty hand we as humanity will be dealt. There is no option but to go forward on the far more likely assumption that will not happen. What is even the position you are arguing for here? Your whole mindset is so fucked - you are somehow advocating for continued fear and or regulation, beyond what is normally prudent, for ultimately negligible risks. And if they truly arenâ(

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