PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Schools in the Portland metro area are still working on procedures for the upcoming school year after federal health officials announced new COVID-19 guidelines earlier this week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidance on Thursday saying quarantining after a COVID-19 exposure is no longer necessary.

The CDC dropped quarantining as long you don’t feel sick, get tested after five days and wear a high-quality mask around others for 10 days.

Local schools told KOIN 6 News they are in the process of figuring out COVID rules for the fall. As vaccines are available for all school-age kids, no district requires students to be vaccinated against COVID.

The schools intend to follow the CDC recommendations and say masks will continue to be optional.

“I think that the fact that we’ve had sort of a break from mandatory masks for awhile, I think that gives us something in our back pocket if something does change and the thing that we will be tracking closely is new variants that are more dangerous in particular,” said Multnomah County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Ann Loeffler.

There is also word that vaccines that cover more than one COVID variant will be available this fall — adding more protection.