CDC

View NPR's maps and graphics to see where COVID-19 is hitting hardest in the U.S., which state outbreaks are growing and which are leveling off.

Federal health officials could reduce the quarantine from the currently recommended 14 days to as few as seven for people who test negative for the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its recommendations one week before the holiday, advising that Americans be careful amid an explosion in the spread of the coronavirus.

The public health agency had previously emphasized that masks protect other people from viruses you might expel. The new advice gives a less altruistic reason to wear face coverings.

People with COVID-19 can infect others even if they are more than 6 feet apart. In updated guidance, the CDC acknowledges airborne transmission can occur, especially in poorly ventilated spaces.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week said that the coronavirus spreads "most commonly" through air — then took it back. Is this something I should be worried about?

Dr. Ali Khan, a former CDC official, says "it's becoming harder to trust what CDC tells us" after the agency posted, then deleted, information on coronavirus transmission. It's the latest flip-flop.

The CDC says the guidelines were posted to its website in error. The now-deleted updates were notable because so far the agency has stopped short of saying that the virus is airborne.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered a nationwide eviction ban for people who can't pay rent and have no place to go. It's helping some, but many others are getting evicted anyway.

"We've got to take a deep breath," says one health official about the rapid timeline pushed by the CDC. "It is very clear that we need to lean forward to prepare to deliver the vaccine."

The agency now says contacts of people with COVID-19 don't necessarily need to get tested. Public health experts say less testing of potential carriers could lead to more spread of the disease.

A study out Monday found that Hispanic and nonwhite workers made up 73% of cases associated with workplace outbreaks in certain industries, despite representing 24% of the workforce in those sectors.