COVID-19

Call 911 or call ahead to your local emergency facility: Notify the operator that you are seeking care for someone who has or may have COVID-19.
 

Stay home if you are sick!

• What to do If you are sick

• Isolate if you are sick

• When to quarantine

• When you can be around others after you’ve had or likely had COVID-19

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Considerations for who should get tested

• People who have symptoms of COVID-19

• People who have had close contact (within 6 feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more) with someone with confirmed COVID-19.​​

• People who have been asked or referred to get testing by their healthcare provider, local or state health department.

Not everyone needs to be tested. If you do get tested, you should self-quarantine/isolate at home pending test results and follow the advice of your health care provider or a public health professional. You should presume you are positive until your results are returned and begin isolating. Follow these 3 key steps while you are awaiting your results.

When you have a positive COVID-19 test

While you were waiting for the results of your test, you should have been in self-quarantine/isolation at home pending test results and following the advice of your health care provider or a public health professional. You will continue to isolate for a minimum of 10 days.

If you are diagnosed with COVID-19, someone from the local health department may call you to:

• Check on your health,

• Discuss who you have been around, and

• Ask where you have spent time while you may have been able to spread COVID-19 to others.

Discussions with health department staff are confidential. This means that your name and personal and medical information will be kept private and only shared with those who may need to know, like your health care provider. Do not wait for a call from the local health department to isolate and begin notifying your contacts you are positive.

If you are diagnosed with COVID-19, tell your close contacts they may have been exposed to COVID-19. An infected person can spread COVID-19 starting 48 hours (or 2 days) before the person has any symptoms or tests positive. By letting your close contacts know they may have been exposed to COVID-19, you are helping to protect everyone. Familiarize yourself with what protective steps to take to prevent others from getting sick.

You can be around others after

• 10 days since symptoms first appeared and

• 24 hours with no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, and

• Other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving.

Follow this guidance if you have tested positive.

If you were around someone diagnosed with COVID-19 (Close Contact)

If you were around someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19, someone from the health department may call you. Do not wait for a call to begin self-quarantine. For COVID-19, a close contact is anyone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more within a 24 hour period. An infected person can spread COVID-19 starting from 48 hours (or 2 days) before the person has any symptoms or tests positive for COVID-19.

Stay home and away from others:

• Stay away from others, especially people who are at higher risk for getting very sick from COVID-19, such as older adults and people with other medical conditions, if possible.

• If you have been around someone with COVID-19, stay home and away from others for 14 days (self-quarantine) after your last contact with that person and monitor your health.

• If you have a fever, cough or other symptoms of COVID-19, stay home and away from others (except to get medical care or testing, if recommended).

• If you need support or assistance while in self-quarantine, your health department or community organizations may be able to provide assistance.

If you decide to get tested during your quarantine, please know a negative test will not release you from quarantine. You must quarantine for 14 days since your last exposure. It can take up to 14 days after exposure to the virus for a person to develop COVID-19 symptoms. A negative result before end of the 14-day quarantine period does not rule out possible infection. By self-quarantining for 14 days, you lower the chance of possibly exposing others to COVID-19.

Depending on your employment, critical infrastructure employees may be permitted to work during quarantine. You will need to discuss this with your healthcare provider, local health department and your employer.

Follow this guidance if you are considered a close contact.

What is Contact Tracing and why is it important?

Contact tracing has been used for decades by state and local health departments to slow or stop the spread of infectious diseases.

Contact tracing slows the spread of COVID-19 by

• Letting people know they may have been exposed to COVID-19 and should monitor their health for signs and symptoms of COVID-19

• Helping people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 get tested

• Asking people to self-isolate if they have COVID-19 or self-quarantine if they are a close contact of someone with COVID-19

During contact tracing, the health department staff will not ask you for

• Money

• Social Security number

• Bank account information

• Salary information

• Credit card numbers

Here is what you can expect from Contact Tracing.