As a result of Thursday's announcement, the nation's top public health agency relaxed its COVID-19 guidelines, dropping the recommendation that Americans quarantine themselves if they come into close contact with an infected individual.
Despite the pandemic ending nearly two and a half years ago, agency officials have acknowledged that 95% of Americans 16 and older have gained some level of immunity, either from vaccination or infection.
“The current conditions of this pandemic are very different from those of the last two years,” said the CDC’s Greta Massetti, an author of the guidelines.
Social distancing and other once-common precautions have long since been abandoned in many places around the country, but some changes may be especially important for schools this month as classes begin.
Perhaps the biggest education-related change is the end of the recommendation that schools do routine daily testing, although that practice can be reinstated in certain situations during a surge in infections, officials said.
12 August 2022
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