The guidelines from the nation's top public health agency are no longer recommend that Americans be in close contact with someone with an infectious disease.
People no longer need to stay at least 6 feet away from each other, according to the CDC.
More than 2 1/2 years after the start of the Pandemic, the changes are driven by a recognition that most Americans have acquired some level of immunity from the disease.
The current conditions of the Pandemic are different from the last two years, according to the CDC's Greta Massetti.
Many places around the country have stopped using social distancing and other precautions, but some of the changes could be important for schools, which resume classes this month in many parts of the country.
The end of the recommendation that schools do routine daily testing is perhaps the biggest change in education.
The CDC dropped its recommendation to keep students in school if they were exposed to COVID-19. The testing option was gone as well.
Only in areas where community transmission is deemed high or if a person is considered to be high risk of severe illness should masks be used.
Even before the latest guidance was issued, school districts had scaled back their COVID-19 precautions. Some people say they will return to pre-pandemic school.
When classes resume this fall, masks will be optional in most districts, and some of the nation's largest districts have stopped requiring COVID-19 testing.
The district announced last week that they are ending weekly COVID-19 tests in favor of at- home tests. In Wake County, schools dropped weekly testing.
The test-to-stay programs became too much for some people last year.
One of the nation's largest teachers unions welcomed the guidance.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said that every teacher and parent starts the school year with hope. We need to focus like a laser on what kids need after two years of uncertainty.
Joseph Allen is the director of Harvard University's healthy building program. Millions of students were forced to stay home from school due to previous isolation policies.
The classrooms of kids had to miss school if they were close to each other. Learning disruption has been devastating.
The CDC is relaxing its guidelines, according to others.
Anne Sosin, a public health researcher at Dartmouth College, said that allowing students to return to school five days after an illness could lead to an outbreak. Last year, some schools had to close temporarily if teachers got sick in large numbers.
She said that all of us want a stable school year, but that's not the way to get there. If we want a return to normal in our schools, we have to invest in the conditions for that.
The number of reported COVID-19 cases and deaths has not changed much this summer, with an average of 100,000 cases a day.
People who are not up to date on their vaccinations should stay away from one another for at least five days, according to the CDC. The agency advises people to wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and get tested after five if they suspect they have the disease.
The agency says that people who test positive should be isolated from other people for at least five days. People can end isolation if they are symptom-free for 24 hours without the use of medication or if the symptoms are getting better.
The FDA updated its recommendations for how many times a person should be tested for COVID-19.
The FDA used to tell people to take two rapid antigen tests over a couple of days. Three tests are recommended by the agency.
The old protocol can miss too many infections and result in people spreading the coronaviruses if they don't develop symptoms.
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Binkley was reporting from Washington. Matthew Perrone is a health writer for The Associated Press.
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The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has a Department of Science Education. The AP doesn't have any responsibility for the rest of the content.
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