The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday it was loosening several requirements for coronavirus mitigation that had been in place since the inception of the pandemic.
The announcement represents a major change in the way the government has been dealing with the COVID-19 virus for more than two years, The New York Times reported.
In its updated guidance, the agency relaxed both its quarantine and social distancing policies.
CDC is updating its guidance to help you better understand how best to protect yourself and others from #COVID19. Learn more: https://t.co/DmfPOAPMjW. pic.twitter.com/8F8U0iz2JU
— CDC (@CDCgov) August 11, 2022
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People exposed to the virus no longer are being advised to quarantine for five days if they have not tested positive and/or are not showing any symptoms.
Instead, the CDC advises those people to wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and to get tested on the fifth day.
As to testing, the agency said people without symptoms and without known exposure no longer have to undergo it.
The CDC also is dispensing with the social distancing requirement as a key way to mitigate the spread of the virus.
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“COVID-19 continues to circulate globally, however, with so many tools available to us for reducing COVID-19 severity, there is significantly less risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death compared to earlier in the pandemic,” it said in the news release Thursday.
According to the Times, 79 percent of Americans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, but only 32 percent have received an additional vaccine dose or a booster.
“The current conditions of this pandemic are very different from those of the last two years,” Greta Massetti, who leads the Field Epidemiology and Prevention Branch at the CDC, said Thursday, according to CNN.
“High levels of population immunity due to vaccination and previous infection and the many available tools to protect the general population, and protect people at higher risk, allow us to…
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