Revised CDC Covid guidelines under review by NYC Department of Education in US

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has eased the Covid-19 protocol of social distancing, contact tracing, and quarantining in their recently issued guidelines in the US. As a result, the health agency believes that the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death from the virus is much lower.

Highlights:
• The CDC has revised its Covid quarantine advice for unvaccinated people exposed to the virus.
• The CDC has also dropped its recommendation to test asymptomatic people in schools.

• The CDC believes the virus now poses a much lower risk of severe infection.

However, the New York City (NYC) Department of Education and the united federation of teachers are reviewing the implications of the new guidelines

The CDC no longer recommends testing asymptomatic people at schools, a significant change from the previous strategy. Similarly, unvaccinated people are not required to quarantine anymore even if they have been exposed to the Covid virus. Instead, the new guidelines recommend that such individuals wear masks for ten days and get tested on the fifth day. However, regardless of the vaccination status, people who test positive need to isolate for five days and can end the isolation on day six if there is no fever or other symptoms. Post-isolation, one should wear a high-quality mask for ten days.



The United Federation of Teachers will review the new recommendations with the New York City Department of Education before the start of the school year.

However, the Department of Education has not yet confirmed adherence to the new guidelines. In addition, the teachers and parents of school children have mixed feelings about the new recommendations. While a section of them feels that the children will return to the usual classroom like before, another section is still doubtful about the disease making a come back.