The CDC will reportedly shorten the recommended COVID-19 quarantine period

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reportedly set to decrease the recommended amount of time individuals should quarantine for following an exposure to COVID-19.

CDC Director Robert Redfield told the White House coronavirus task force on Tuesday the CDC will release updated guidelines recommending that any close contacts of a person infected with COVID-19 quarantine for seven to 10 days, CNN and The Wall Street Journal report. Seven days would be for if the person receives a negative COVID-19 test result, while 10 days would be for if they don't receive a test.

At the moment, the CDC recommends that "you should stay home for 14 days after your last contact with a person who has COVID-19." Redfield told the task force the change was "data-driven," the Journal reports. It had previously been reported that the CDC might make this change.

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"We do think that the work that we've done, and some of the studies we have and the modeling data that we have, shows that we can with testing shorten quarantines," Henry Walke, the CDC's COVID-19 incident manager, told the Journal.

This update from the CDC comes after the agency in October expanded its definition of a close COVID-19 contact to mean being within six feet of an infected person for 15 or more cumulative minutes over 24 hours, as opposed to 15 minutes consecutively, CNN notes. The CDC in November also updated its mask guidance to say that wearing one not only protects others, but also protects the person who wears it.