California Breaks With CDC, Makes Major Change to COVID-19 Rules

The Golden State recently announced new COVID-19 isolation guidelines.

A doctor and a medical team are seen with a suspected COVID-19 patient in a 2020 file photo. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

California recently adjusted its guidelines on how a person should isolate after testing positive for COVID-19, distancing itself from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rules.

State guidelines released this month recommend that people who test positive and have mild symptoms can end their isolation if their symptoms improve, and if they’ve been without a fever—without taking medication—for 24 hours or more, according to a statement.

“We are now at a different point in time with reduced impacts from COVID-19 compared to prior years due to broad immunity from vaccination and/or natural infection, and readily available treatments available for infected people,” the California Health Department said in the statement.

“[The state’s new] policies and priorities for intervention are now focused on protecting those most at risk for serious illness, while reducing social disruption that is disproportionate to recommendations for prevention of other endemic respiratory viral infections,” the statement reads.

According to CDC guidelines, the federal agency continues to recommend that individuals with COVID-19 stay home for at least five days, regardless of whether they’re symptom-free or not. After five days, if the COVID-19 symptoms haven’t improved, people should continue to isolate until they feel better and also have been without a fever for at least 24 hours, the agency recommends.

A number of local and state health agencies as well as hospitals follow the CDC’s guidelines, although they aren’t mandated. The CDC hasn’t appeared to have changed its recommendations on quarantining since August 2022.

Initially, the CDC recommended that people who test positive isolate for at least 10 days. But since 2021, the agency has updated its recommendations, saying that patients should do so for five days and wear a mask until the 10th day even without any symptoms.

During the COVID-19 pandemic’s height, Democrat-dominated California and some of its various major cities had among the most stringent COVID-19-related rules in the United States. Those rules became the focus of Republican criticism over the past several years against the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have said that lockdowns, mandates, and other rules sparked a mass exodus from the Golden State to other states such as Florida. But Mr. Newsom has downplayed those assertions, saying in a recent debate with Mr. DeSantis that only a small portion of people left the state and claiming that residents have left GOP states in recent years, too.

Some mandates are still in effect in certain parts of California. In recent weeks, Los Angeles County’s health agency mandated that anyone inside a hospital or health care facility wear a mask, saying that the rate of COVID-19 transmission had met the threshold to reimplement the mandate.

Starting in November 2023, multiple Bay Area counties adjacent to San Francisco have mandated that health care staff such as doctors and nurses wear masks inside facilities. The rule, which is slated to end in late April, was issued because of an anticipated rise in respiratory illnesses during the winter months.

Several months ago, Oregon, another state that’s dominated by Democrats and had strict COVID-19-pandemic-era mandates, broke with the CDC’s recommendations on isolation for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 without any symptoms.

“The emergency has ended. Covid-19 is endemic,” Dr. Melissa Sutton, medical director for respiratory viral pathogens at the Oregon Health Authority, told The New York Times in an article published on June 21. “We’re in a different phase.”

In response to California’s decision, a professor at Oregon State University told NBC that health officials should try to “develop effective, safe ways to live with COVID-19 but not let COVID-19 hijack our life or work anymore.”

“What California and Oregon are doing is not just based on evidence, but they have to consider practicality. What is feasible?” Chunhuei Chi, the professor, told the outlet.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Mandy Cohen testifies before the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee in Washington on Nov. 30, 2023. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Recent data published by the CDC shows that COVID-19 cases appear to have been on the decline in recent days. For the week ending on Jan. 13, emergency department visits for the virus dropped by 19 percent week-over-week, while hospitalizations decreased by 9.6 percent in the same time period.

Historical data suggest that the recent increase in cases was a far cry from previous surges of the virus throughout the pandemic. For the week ending on Jan. 13, there were a reported 32,861 cases. In comparison for the week ending about a year prior, there were about 37,200 cases.

In response to the decision by California, a CDC spokesperson told the channel that the agency “will continue to evaluate the latest data as it considers its recommendations.”

The CDC, meanwhile, again pushed for more vaccinations in a recent advisory panel statement issued earlier this month, saying that four new vaccines are being recommended for 2024. They include the updated mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer.