LATEST UPDATE:
On March 1, 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially updated its COVID-19 public health guidance, eliminating a mandatory isolation time frame and issuing one blanket set of recommendations for the prevention of respiratory viruses (such as COVID-19, flu, RSV, etc.). Read CDC’s Respiratory Virus guidance here.
WHAT DO I DO IF I TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19?
If you test positive for COVID-19, stay home and away from others (including people you live with who are not sick) until both of the following are true for a minimum of 24 hours:
- Your symptoms are getting better overall[1], and
- You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication)
Once you meet the criteria above, return to your normal activities and take added precaution for the next 5 days, such as using masks, taking additional steps for cleaner air, being diligent about hygiene, physically distancing, and/or testing when they will be around other people indoors.
If you develop a fever or you start to feel worse after you have gone back to normal activities, stay home and away from others again until, for at least 24 hours, both are true: your symptoms are improving overall, and you have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication). Then take added precaution for the next 5 days.
If you test positive for COVID-19 but never develop symptoms, you may still be contagious. For the next 5 days after testing positive, take added precaution such as using masks, taking additional steps for cleaner air, being diligent about hygiene, physically distancing, and/or testing when they will be around other people indoors.
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[1] “Improving symptoms” means that you are starting to feel better, and the body is returning to normal after an infection. A respiratory virus infection can have many types of symptoms, some of which can last beyond the period of someone being infectious, such as a lingering cough. As a result, having a single symptom or a combination of symptoms is not as important as the overall sense of feeling better and the ability to resume activities.
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Example 1: Person with fever and symptoms
Example 2: Person with fever but no other symptoms
Example 3: Person with fever and other symptoms, fever ends but other symptoms take longer to improve
Example 4: Person gets better and then gets a fever
PREVENTION STRATEGIES:
To prevent spread of the virus (whether you have been exposed to COVID-19 directly or not), CDC recommends implementing the following strategies:
- Staying up-to-date with immunizations
- Practicing good hygiene
- Taking steps for cleaner air
- Masking
- Physically distancing
- Testing
Key times for using the above prevention strategies:
- You or the people around you were recently exposed to a respiratory virus, are sick, or are recovering
- Respiratory viruses are causing a lot of illness in your community
- You or the people around you have risk factors for severe illness
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