CDC updates COVID-19 guidelines, at-home quarantining not required

Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani breaks down the new CDC COVID-19 guidance.

Video transcript

BRIAN CHEUNG: The CDC has eased COVID quarantine guidelines, saying the virus is here to stay. The rule change comes just before the start of the new school year. So what are the latest recommendations? Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani here with the story. Anjalee, what's the CDC saying now?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Well, Brian, we know that the CDC is looking at the trajectory of this virus now, saying that, of course, as you mentioned, it is here to stay. And so they're doing away with the quarantine period. And quarantine is when you are exposed to the virus, so no quarantining at home now required. We do-- they do still recommend that those who are infected isolate for at least five days. And if you think you're exposed, you can now just wear a mask and continue testing about at the fifth day and subsequently after that.

So that's a major shift that we're seeing in the CDC's public guidance. Now, of course, this comes as we're watching the rate of vaccinations, the availability of therapeutics. And that sort of is the justification behind this move.

Important to point out, though, that the director of the response team, Dr. Ashish Jha, did say yesterday at a separate event that they're still watching the trajectory of the virus. And we could still end up with something a little bit more concerning. But as it stands right now, because the threat to deaths and severe illness is lower with the supply of vaccine, they're looking at reducing the burden for right now and leaving it on individuals to protect themselves and understand their risk.