By Evie Blad
Shorter COVID-19 quarantine periods, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends, could ease some of the burdens that have made in-person learning difficult for schools, but challenges remain.
The new recommendations, announced Wednesday, would allow for close contacts of people diagnosed with the virus to resume normal activity after 10 days if they don’t show symptoms, or as little as seven days if they test negative.
The ideal quarantine period is still 14 days, but federal health officials hope that offering shorter options will encourage more people to cooperate by reducing the burden of being away from work and school for extended periods, they told reporters on a conference call.