CDC updates guidance on discharging COVID-19 patients

To help prevent the spread in health care facilities of the virus causing COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated guidance this week on discharging hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Meeting the criteria for discontinuation of transmission-based precautions is no longer a prerequisite for discharge. The guidance clarifies how to determine, through testing or other means, whether discharge is clinically indicated. The guidance also outlines what precautions must be in place once patients return to the community. (CDC website, 3/23/20)