CDC drops quarantine, screening guidelines for COVID-19

The agency said Thursday that people no longer need to stay 6 feet away from others or quarantine themselves if they come into close contact with someone who tests positive for the virus. The changes come after the CDC estimates that 95 percent of Americans 16 or older have developed some immunity to COVID-19, either through vaccination or through infection, according to a survey of blood donations. The agency still says that those who test positive for the virus should self-isolate for five days.

What does this change? The most noticeable effects will likely take place in schools, which resume in many places this month. Daily testing recommendations will likely disappear. Schools all across the country were already rolling back their COVID-19 guidelines weeks before the CDC’s announcement.

Dig deeper: Read Jenny Rough’s report in WORLD Magazine about the complicated legal situation surrounding religious exemptions for vaccine mandates.