The Maryland Department of Health has officially adopted the respiratory virus guidance to apply to the school setting, which is the same guidance announced by the Department of Catholic Schools on Monday, March 11, 2024. Respiratory illnesses, including COVID, no longer require a mandatory 5-day isolation period.  This direction from MDH supports the action taken by the Department of Catholic Schools. 

Preventing The Spread of Respiratory Viruses When You’re Sick

Using precautions to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses when you are sick is a core

prevention strategy to lower risk from respiratory viruses. Updated CDC guidance when people

may have a respiratory virus is as follows:

● Stay home and away from others (including people you live with who are not sick) if you have respiratory virus symptoms that aren't better explained by another cause.

● You can go back to your normal activities when, for at least 24 hours, both are true:

■ Your symptoms are getting better overall, and

■ You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication).

● When you go back to your normal activities, take added precaution over the next 5 days, such as taking additional steps for cleaner air, hygiene, masks, physical distancing, and/or testing when you will be around other people indoors. These additional precautions are especially important to protect people with factors that increase their risk of severe illness from respiratory viruses.