California deviates from CDC guidelines on Covid isolation: What do experts think, and will more states follow?
California changed its guidelines for Covid isolation: People who are asymptomatic or recover from their symptoms can stop isolating before the five-day mark.
In California, a person who tests positive for Covid and has no symptoms does not need to isolate, according to new state health guidelines. People who test positive and have mild symptoms, meanwhile, can end isolation once their symptoms improve and they’ve been fever-free for 24 hours without medication — even if that point arrives in less than five days.
The California Department of Public Health updated the policies earlier this month.
"We are now at a different point in time with reduced impacts from COVID-19 compared to prior years due to broad immunity from vaccination and/or natural infection, and readily available treatments available for infected people," the department said in a news release.
"Our policies and priorities for intervention are now focused on protecting those most at risk for serious illness, while reducing social disruption that is disproportionate to recommendations for prevention of other endemic respiratory viral infections," it added.
The state's guidance differs from that of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which continues to advise people with Covid to stay home for at least five days, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
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