CDC issues new COVID guidelines

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) -The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have eased it’s COVID-19 restrictions following a dramatic drop in the number of cases, deaths and hospitalizations.

The new guidelines can be found here.

“The path we’re moving on is hopefully a good path where cases will continue to go down, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to go down,” said Matthew Christenberry, an Epidemiologist for the Pima County Health Department.

But a word of caution, the guidelines could change with a surge in the Fall or Winter.

But for the time being, some of the rules being relaxed have to do with exposure to COVID-19 and what to do after than exposure.

“Now, with this new recommendation from the CDC is that individuals who are exposed to COVID 19 do not need to quarantine regardless of your vaccination status,” Christenberry said. “But they’re asking individuals to wear a mask for 10 days.”

On top of that the CDC is tossing its six foot social distancing guideline into one which calls for reasonable distancing.

That’s being done just as students are returning to school in Pima County and the “hallways are packed and the classrooms are full of kids,” said Pima County Schools Superintendent Dustin Williams.

So now the point is just to try to keep everyone safe.

“The most important thing they try to do is say, hey it means if you can keep your distance, do the best you can, try to stay out of people’s faces, try to have your own space, try to be as safe as possible,” Williams said. “But it is an challenge in schools to do that.”

One thing which makes schools safer and is recommended in the new guidelines in air flow and in this cases new air conditioning which many districts have spent millions of dollars to do.

“Aa lot of schools got into the HVAC business,” Williams said. “Just from observation, I don’t have an exact number, but I would say they a large majority of all schools, district, charter, private have really focused on efforts of ventilation.”

But it’s also true that the CDC is establishing guidelines which make the individual responsible for their own decisions on how to prevent the spread of the virus. It’s going on three years now and most people know the risk.

“Understanding what the risk is for themselves and their families, so really looking at what’s their risk and their families risk and then taking that and trying to assess what their next steps should be to mitigate their risk of COVID 19,” Christenberry said.

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