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CDC updates close contact guidelines

By Jennifer O'Hara • October 28, 2020
a white middle aged man wearing a mask and gloves delievering food to an older white woman, also wearing a mask, at her front door during COVID-19 pandemic

CDC updates close contact guidelines
Oct. 28, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidelines for defining close contact with a person who is positive for COVID-19. Previously, close contact was defined as occurring when someone was within 6 feet of an infectious person for 15 consecutive minutes. Now close contact includes people who were within 6 feet for a total of 15 minutes over a 24-hour period, as the CDC now advises that repeated, brief encounters also carry a risk of transmission. 

On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, discusses the updated information from the CDC and the latest information from the Food and Drug Administration on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.

Research disclosures for Dr. Gregory Poland.

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