UPDATE (March 1, 2024): The CDC announced that people who test positive for COVID-19 will no longer need to stay home for five days. The new guidelines recommend that people may resume normal activities when their symptoms have been improving and they have been fever-free without medications for at least 24 hours. The CDC recommends additional precautions, such as improving ventilation, washing hands often, and wearing masks, in the five days after resuming normal activities. These guidelines apply to respiratory viruses including COVID-19, influenza, and RSV.

The Washington Post was the first to report the claim that the CDC would be loosening isolation guidelines, citing three anonymous CDC officials as the source. The Washington Post article was published February 13^th , other media organizations then published similar articles, citing the  Washington Post article as their source.

COVID remains as contagious as it was before, and if you have COVID you can still spread it to others for 5-12 days.

While it is unclear how The Washington Post received their information from the anonymous CDC officials, this does appear to be a leak. That means that the full context and whole truth of any proposed guideline changes is not included in the information shared. Much is still unknown about the context of this claim.

We don’t know if or when the CDC will make updates to COVID guidelines or what these changes may be.