Officials will now clear GW community members from COVID-19 isolation as early as five days after their first positive test or symptoms, administrators announced in an email Thursday.

Community members will still need both improved symptoms and a negative test result to be released from isolation, according to the email. GW’s isolation requirements previously required community members to isolate for at least 10 days until they receive a negative test result, but the shortened period comes as public health officials have also loosened isolation guidelines in recent months.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened its recommended isolation period from 10 days to five days in December, but GW officials had continued to keep the longer requirement in place, saying they were following local guidance from DC Health. DC Health updated its minimum recommended isolation period earlier this month for academic settings from seven days to five days.

GW officials have maintained the University’s indoor mask and vaccine mandates. Community members are required to receive a COVID-19 test at least once every 15 days to receive campus access.

GW’s COVID-19 positivity rate fell during the first weeks of the spring semester as a wave of Omicron variant cases subsided. The positivity rate has risen to roughly 1 percent in the days following spring break, an increase officials warned about earlier this month.