Updated 10/29/2024
"Isolation" period for COVID-19
Prior Guidance: The previous COVID-19 guidance recommended a minimum isolation period of 5 days plus a period of post-isolation precautions. It was created during the public health emergency, at a time when we had lower population immunity, fewer tools to combat respiratory viruses, and higher rates of severe illness, including hospitalizations and deaths.
Updated Guidance: The updated Respiratory Virus Guidance recommends that people stay home and away from others until at least 24 hours after both their symptoms are getting better overall, and they have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication). Note that depending on the length of symptoms, this period could be shorter, the same, or longer than the previous guidance for COVID-19.
It is important to note that the guidance doesn't end with staying home and away from others when sick. The guidance encourages added precaution over the next five days after time at home, away from others, is over. Since some people remain contagious beyond the "stay-at-home" period, a period of added precaution using prevention strategies, such as:
- Taking more steps for cleaner air;
- Enhancing hygiene practices;
- Wearing a well-fitting mask;
- Keeping a distance from others; and/or
- Getting tested for respiratory viruses can lower the chance of spreading respiratory viruses to others.
We considered multiple options for adjusting isolation guidance at different lengths of time. In addition to fewer people getting seriously ill from COVID-19 and having better tools to fight serious illness, CDC considered other factors such as the personal and societal costs of extended isolation. We also considered the timing of when people are most likely to spread the virus (a few days before and after symptoms appear). The updated guidance is easy-to-understand, practical, and evidence-based, as well as more aligned with long-standing recommendations for other respiratory illnesses.
CDC offers separate, specific guidance for healthcare settings (COVID-19, flu, and general infection prevention and control) and Interim Guidance for Managing Healthcare Personnel with SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 that is not currently changing.
Why are the updated recommendations about ending the "stay home" period based on symptoms and not testing?
The updated Respiratory Virus Guidance recommends that people stay home and away from others until at least 24 hours after both their symptoms are getting better overall, and they have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication).
It is important to note that the updated guidance states that testing is an option during the 5 days of additional precautions following the "stay home" period. While COVID-19 at-home testing can give a rough approximation of whether a person is still infectious, at-home testing for other respiratory viruses is not widely available. CDC guidance throughout the pandemic recognized that repeated testing through the course of illness is not practical for many people.
Several factors were considered in updating this recommendation:
- The severity of certain symptoms for COVID-19 and flu, most prominently fever, correlates to some extent with duration of viral shedding—an indicator of contagiousness. In other words, as symptoms improve, especially fever, infectiousness tends to go down in most people.
- Regardless of which respiratory virus is the cause, symptoms are a simple indicator for determining when to act.
- The total number of days of precautions when sick, that is, a period of staying home and away from others plus 5 days of additional actions, covers the period during which most people are still infectious.
- Most people do not know what virus is causing their infection, and at-home tests (antigen tests) are only widely available for COVID-19.
- This recommendation is similar to longstanding public health practice based on symptoms for flu and other respiratory viruses.