Covid variant surge: Latest CDC guidelines on isolation and symptoms as cases rise
Covid variants surge: People who test positive for Covid don’t need to isolate for five days, according to recent guidance from the CDC.
Covid rates are still rising across most of the country, fueled by the highly contagious new variants of the virus — KP.2 and KP.3 and LB.1. As of July 18, the highest levels of Covid are in the Western states, although there are no areas of the U.S. where rates are noticeably dropping, according to CDC wastewater data.
At least 21 states have very high levels of Covid, the data shows.
“You have a very, very transmissible variant, probably one of the most transmissible we’ve had,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. “We have a lot of population immunity, but it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot of chaos.”
But people who test positive for Covid don’t need to isolate for five days, according to recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This is the first major wave since the CDC updated its Covid guidance, said Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist who tracks illnesses on her website, Your Local Epidemiologist. She recommends isolating until an at-home Covid test turns negative, which could be anywhere from three to 15 days.
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