SAN ANTONIO — New COVID guidelines are likely coming from the CDC. The final guidelines are still in the works, but will allow people to follow safety measures that are similar to other illnesses that have been around for decades.
The new guidelines that are expected to be released in the next month or two, and will allow people to return to work faster than the current guidelines.
"What we think is going to happen is that the CDC is going to line isolation for COVID with isolation recommendations that we used for other respiratory viruses like flu," Dr. Barbara Taylor, an associate professor of infectious diseases and assistant dean for the MD/MPH Program at UT Health San Antonio said.
Current guidelines say those infected with the virus stay away from work or school for five days. The CDC will reportedly change guidelines to advise people with a fever to stay home. Reported guidelines will allow people to return to work or school if they are fever-free for 24 hours without medication.
Dr. Taylor warns not to treat COVID like the flu for two reasons.
"It is more likely to hospitalize you and it is more likely to cause death and the flu. The other thing that COVID does at a much higher frequency than the flu is that it causes a post inflammatory syndrome. We call this long COVID, and it is a real challenge for people," said Dr. Taylor
There are three likely reasons why the CDC is changing the guidance. First, the current dominant variant JN.1 doesn't appear to be causing more severe illnesses than previous strains. Second, at the population level, there appears to be an increase in hybrid immunity to COVID-19 because of higher vaccination rates and more COVID exposure. Third, the CDC was concerned that many people weren't following the isolation recommendations to begin with.
Vaccines are still your best protection against COVID, but if you do come down with COVID, take advantage of available medication. "Paxlovid is the most commonly used treatment, and it's very effective at reducing your risk of hospitalization," Dr. Taylor added.
Doctors say this change likely will not increase the risk for those most vulnerable to the disease, and vaccinations are the best way to keep you as healthy as possible.
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