The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) intends to abandon the five-day isolation recommendations for COVID-19, according to new guidelines planned by this US government agency, The Washington Post newspaper wrote on Tuesday, citing Reuters and Agerpres.

The CDC plans to recommend that people who test positive for COVID-19 make their own decisions about when to end isolation based on their symptoms.

According to an article in The Washington Post, which cited CDC officials familiar with the matter, people with mild symptoms who improve will no longer be required to stay home unless they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours. extend to hospitals and other health care facilities that receive people from more vulnerable segments of the population.

CDC officials have not yet responded to a Reuters request for comment.

The U.S. government has not yet signed off on the guidelines, which the CDC is expected to release in April for public comment, the same article added.

Isolation guidelines for a positive COVID-19 test result have not been updated since December 2021, when the CDC reduced the recommended isolation period for asymptomatic Americans to five days from the previous recommendation of 10 days.

CDC data showed that nearly 86% of recent cases of COVID-19 in the United States as of Jan. 19 were caused by the JN.1 subvariant, classified by the World Health Organization as a “variant of concern.”