SAN ANTONIO — The CDC has announced major changes to their guidelines for COVID-19 Thursday.
First of all, if you’ve been exposed to COVID-19, the CDC says you won’t have to quarantine anymore. If you’ve been exposed, the CDC now recommends folks wear a high-quality mask for ten days instead of going into quarantine. They also recommend getting tested on the fifth day.
Regardless of whether you’ve received your vaccine, you should still isolate from others if you test positive. They still suggest staying home for five days, then if you test negative, you can take off your mask.
Another big change: the CDC says people no longer have to "social distance" or stay six feet away from each other.
Health experts now say 95 percent of Americans 16 and older now have some level of immunity, whether that’s from vaccines or getting infected.
The recommendations have also changed in time as millions of children head back to school.
"Because we are no longer recommending quarantine, we're no longer including a section on test-to-stay because the practice of handling exposures would involve masking rather than a quarantine and have to stay as an alternative to quarantine," said Greta Massett, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here in San Antonio, the risk level for COVID remains high and steady. 925 new cases were reported on Thursday, for a total of 600,000 cases since the pandemic started. The seven day average is up from Wednesday at 844. 294 people are in the hospital, with 37 in the ICU.