CDC Updates COVID-19 Guidance to Add New Symptoms and Guidelines on Release from Isolation

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The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided updated guidance on several issues of relevance to employees infected with COVID-19 – additional symptoms of COVID-19 and when individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 may stop self-isolating, which would enable them to return to work.

New Symptoms. The CDC updated its webpage on the symptoms of COVID-19 to add six new symptoms to the previously-identified symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. The new symptoms are: chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, and a new loss of taste or smell.

Release from Isolation. In a separate Interim Guidance on Discontinuation of Isolation for Persons with COVID-19 Not in Healthcare Settings, the CDC provides guidance on when those individuals with COVID-19 and were directed to isolate at home may stop self-isolating (and therefore return to work).

  • Where follow-up testing is not available or used, employees with symptoms who initially tested positive must be fever-free for at least three days without the use of fever-reducing medicines, there must be an improvement in their respiratory symptoms, and at least 7 days must have passed since the symptoms first appeared.
  • Where follow-up testing is being used, employees with symptoms who initially tested positive must be fever-free for at least three days without the use of fever-reducing medicines, there must be an improvement in their respiratory symptoms, and they must have tested negative from at least two consecutive specimens collected 24 or more hours apart.
  • Employees without symptoms who tested positive may discontinue isolation when 7 days have passed since the date of their first positive COVID-19 test and they remain asymptomatic. The CDC cautions that for three days following release from isolation, these individuals should stay 6 feet away from others and wear a face covering or mask.