New CDC Guidance for Essential Workers Could Get Some Back to Work

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has new guidance for essential workers as it takes a small step toward reopening the country.

The guidance applies to essential workers, such as those in the healthcare and food supply industry, who have been within 6 feet of a person who has a confirmed or suspected case of the new coronavirus.

CDC Director Robert Redfield says the employee can return to work as long as they take their temperature before they go to work, wear a face mask at all times and practice social distancing while they are at work.

Redfield said the employees should continue to stay home if they are sick.

He also said employers in those critical industries should take the temperatures of a worker before allowing them to come back to work.

Redfield announced the new guidance during the daily White House briefing on the U.S. efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

The new guidelines will be posted on cdc.gov.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House virus task force, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" on Wednesday that if the social distancing strategies implemented through the end of April are successful in flattening the curve and slowing the spread of the pernicious virus, the government could start to peel back some of restrictions.

“If, in fact, we are successful, it makes sense to at least plan what a re-entry into normality would look like,” Fauci said, according to Fox News. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to do it right now, but it means we need to be prepared to ease into that.”

At the same time, Fauci said, even though “we’re starting to see some glimmers of hope,” the United States needs to “keep pushing on the mitigation strategies.”

Such practices as social distancing are "having a positive impact on the dynamics of the outbreak,” he said. 

One potential hitch, new research that suggests the disease is even more infectious than originally thought. If that holds true, it could necessitate a longer period of mitigating behaviors that would slow the reopening of the country. 

Also, new evidence suggests as many as half of infected Americans are asymptomatic, which also has experts urging caution in taking steps toward relaxing guidelines.

Newsmax's Jeffrey Rubin contributed to this report.