In a break with CDC, California quietly changed its Covid isolation guidelines

People in California no longer need to stay home if they’re symptom-free. Oregon implemented the same guidance in May.

NBC Universal, Inc. Some schools across California are changing their covid guidelines for students and staff, after new recommendations from the state. The California Department of Public Health released their latest update last week. NBC 7’s Dana Williams explains what changed including new isolation periods for those who test positive. 

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. 

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"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.

The new strain of COVID-19 has spread across the United States in recent weeks.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com here.

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