The CDC recently updated its guidance on when someone may stop isolating in a number of COVID-19 related scenarios.
If you have been around someone with COVID-19, the CDC recommends that you remain home for 14 days after your last exposure to that person. However, if you developed COVID-19 illness within the previous three (3) months and recovered and remain without COVID-19 symptoms, you do not, according to the CDC, need to stay home.
If you think or know you had COVID-19, and you had symptoms, the CDC recommends that you can be around others after:
- 10 days since symptoms first appeared;
- 24 hours with no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications; and
- COVID-19 symptoms have improved.
The CDC says testing is not required for most people to determine if they can end isolation. However, if the person’s healthcare provider recommends testing, that advice should be followed.
If you tested positive for COVID-19, but did not have symptoms, the CDC recommends that “you can be with others after 10 days have passed since you had a positive viral test for COVID-19.”
Again, the CDC says that “[m]ost people do not require testing to decide when they can be around others; however, if your healthcare provider recommends testing, they will let you know when you can resume being around others based on your test results.”
If you were severely ill with COVID-19 or have a severely weakened immune system because of a health condition or medication, the CDC recommends that such individuals may need to remain home for more than 10 days and up to 20 days after symptoms first appeared. Immunocompromised individuals may require additional testing and should consult with their healthcare provider.