The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director updated its school guidance on Thursday for K-12 schools to align with its isolation and quarantine guidance as hospitals see an increase in hospitalizations amongst children.
In its update, the CDC gave recommendations on how those who are not fully vaccinated or are unvaccinated should isolate after infection or quarantined after exposure for at least five days after close contact with someone who has COVID.
The CDC recommends students, staff, and teachers stay home and isolate away from others for at least five full days, with day 0 being the first day of symptoms or the day of the positive viral test for asymptomatic persons.
They can leave isolation after five full days if fever-free for 24 hours.
The agency added that they should continue to wear a mask around others at home and in public for five additional days.
The new recommendations came a day prior to the CDC released new data that showed that nearly 800 children age 17 years and younger in the United States are being hospitalized daily due to COVID-19.
According to the CDC, the rate of hospitalizations for children under the age of 5 have increased to 4.3 cases in 100,000 children since early December.
