Normalization of Covid-19 (and other respiratory illnesses)

The new CDC guidelines also reflect the all-too-obvious reality that the general public’s attitudes toward COVID have changed enormously over the past couple years, and at this point it’s not at all clear how many were still following the CDC’s old test-and-isolate guidelines anyway. Less than half of the respondents to a recent CDC survey said they would get a COVID test if they had coldlike symptoms. As infectious-disease expert Dr. Céline Gounder pointed out to the New York Times on Friday, the lack of testing alone necessitated a policy change: “If you don’t know which virus you have, how are you supposed to follow the right guidance for COVID versus flu versus RSV versus the common-cold virus?”