The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently shortened its recommended isolation period for people infected with the COVID-19 virus.

It said that people who are infected can re-enter society after five days if they don’t have symptoms or if their symptoms are resolving.

The guidance adds that people should wear a mask for five days after that.

The change came about, officials said, because studies have found that a majority of transmission happens in the first five days of infection.

It also allows companies to bring back workers in half the time.

According to a press report, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C. director, said that the guidance “had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate.”

She estimated that less than a third of people who should have been isolated in the past had done so; the new rules, she said, were meant to encourage people to stay in when they were “maximally infectious.”

Readers Bureau, Contributor

Edited by Jesus Chan

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