New COVID-19 Guidance Shared By CT Health Officials: What You Need To Know

CONNECTICUT — The Connecticut Department of Public Health has issued new and less restrictive guidance regarding COVID-19 isolation.

This updated recommendations advise that those who have COVID-19 stay home until they have been fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours, or their symptoms have been improving for 24 hours. The move marks an end to the pandemic-era guidance suggesting people isolate for at least five days after testing positive for COVID-19.

The DPH has taken its cue from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which pointed to improvements in the rates of hospitalizations and deaths inflicted by the virus this past season for the ease in restrictions. The CDC also specifically cited the high degree of population immunity against COVID-19, noting that more than 98 percent of the U.S. population now has some degree of protective immunity, from vaccination, prior infection, or both.

"COVID-19 remains an important public health threat, but it is no longer the emergency that it once was, and its health impacts increasingly resemble those of other respiratory viral illnesses," the agency said in a report released Friday.

"Since the start of the 2023—2024 respiratory virus season, DPH has taken a pan-respiratory virus approach to managing COVID-19, the flu and RSV," DPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthanisaid in a statement. "This strategy has been consistent with the CDC guidance for managing viral respiratory diseases including COVID-19, influenza, and RSV."

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