CNN The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will shorten its recommended quarantine period for people infected with coronavirus to seven days, the report said.
Under the new guidelines, quarantine can end after seven days for those who test negative and 10 days for those who do not receive tests instead of the current 14-day period for both groups.
CDC Director Robert Redfield announced the update at a meeting of the White House Coronavirus Task Force on Tuesday, citing two senior administration officials, according to CNN. The head of the task force, Vice President Pence, has been pushing the CDC for months to review the recommendations, and the issue has been under discussion for some time.
The CDC had previously included 15 minutes of contact with a person suffering from the virus as a definition of close contact. It currently defines it as a total of 15 minutes within six feet of an infected person. In July, the agency changed its lengthy recommendations on how long a person should be isolated after experiencing the first symptoms, shortening the period from 14 days to 10 if the person is not symptomatic by the end of that period.
The agency has long thought that the incubation period of the virus lasts up to 14 days, but people usually develop symptoms and become infected between four and five days after exposure, according to the Associated Press.
That has changed since the U.S. surpassed 13.8 million cases of the virus. About 271,000 Americans have died.
Hill has reached out to the CDC to comment.
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