The guidelines for quarantines in Montgomery County have changed.

According to Montgomery County Department of Emergency Management Director Rick Whitson, if you are quarantined from exposure due to a positive case, you are no longer required to fulfill a 14-day quarantine. However, you must submit a COVID P.C.R. Test on the sixth day of the quarantine, and upon receiving a negative result be released after seven days, returning to work on the eighth day.

Should you choose not to take a COVID P.C.R. Test, you may be released after ten days, returning to work on the eleventh day. The Health Department still requires that a mask be worn for the duration of the 14-day period in either case.

Positive cases have not changed as they must still complete a ten-day quarantine with the last 72-hour period being symptom-free. This new rule does not apply to residents of long-term care, assisted living facilities or offender populations in the department of corrections.