What Do the New COVID-19 Guidelines Mean for Your Health?

This post was originally published on Word In Black By: Alexa Spencer The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced new COVID-19 recommendations on March 1. The list of guidelines includes an end to five-day at-home isolation periods for people who test positive for the virus. The updated guidelines — called Respiratory Virus Guidance — offer a “unified approach” to addressing respiratory illnesses, rather than a COVID-19-specific guidance. All recommendations now apply to COVID-19, RSV, and the flu. The question remains: Could the relaxed guidelines have a negative impact on frontline workers and communities of color? These groups are historically vulnerable to COVID-19 exposure and poor health outcomes if the virus is contracted. “If we continue to make sure that we have the levels of vaccine coverage that we’ve had before, we will be in good standing,” says Dr. Reed Tuckson, the former commissioner of public health for the District of Columbia. Tuckson is a co-founder and board member of the Black Coalition Against COVID. He says Black people and professionals were able to close major vaccine disparity gaps when the primary series was released. During that time, vaccines were administered at no-cost. Today, COVID-19 shots are available for...