CDC Releases Updated Respiratory Virus Guidance

Friday March 1, 2024

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released updated general guidance on viral respiratory illnesses.

This guidance aligns recommendations for common respiratory viral illness including COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) with the goal of making recommendations easier to understand and follow while continuing to protect those most at risk for severe illness.  

Guides:

Respiratory Virus Guidance

Respiratory Virus Guidance Background

Respiratory Virus Guidance Talking Points

Respiratory Virus Guidance Public FAQ

The CDC recommends core prevention strategies to prevent viral respiratory illnesses. These include:

• Staying up to date with immunizations to protect people against serious illness, hospitalization and death. This includes influenza, COVID-19 and RSV if eligible.

• Practicing good hygiene by covering coughs and sneezes, washing or sanitizing hands often and cleaning frequently touched surfaces.

• Taking steps to improve air quality such as bringing in more fresh outside air, purifying indoor air, or gathering outdoors.

• Following recommendations when an individual has a respiratory illness including:

  • Using precautions to prevent spread of the illness such as staying home and away from others when sick, waiting to return to normal activities until symptoms have been improving and no fever is present (without the use of fever-reducing medication) for at least 24 hours and using additional precautions for 5 days after returning to normal activities.

    • Note: depending on the length of symptoms and duration of fever, this period of staying home and away from others could be shorter, the same, or longer than previous COVID-19 isolation guidance to isolate for a minimum of 5 days after onset.

  • Seeking healthcare care promptly for testing and/or treatment if a person has risk factors for severe illness.

  • Using additional prevention strategies including masks, physical distancing and testing for respiratory viruses.

   

The guidance also includes specific considerations for people at higher risk for developing severe illness and covers:

• Older adults

• Young children

• People with weakened immune systems

• People with disabilities

• Pregnant people

The updated viral respiratory illness guidance is intended for a general audience and community settings. CDC’s separate guidance for healthcare settings is not changing. CDC has been working with education partners to develop separate infection prevention and control guidance for schools, which will include information on infection spread and prevention strategies across a number of pathogens that can affect school settings (e.g., norovirus, influenza, Strep pharyngitis). The school guidance will align with the updated Respiratory Virus Guidance and other disease-specific guidance and include considerations for children with special health care needs. CDC expects the school guidance to be released prior to the next school year.