There are two important steps to take after a positive home test result. Once you test positive, start following the CDC's guidance for isolating (staying away from others if you're sick or test positive for COVID-19).
A positive result on a PCR test also meets the requirement under the EUA to have a positive test result. Confirmation of a positive home rapid antigen diagnostic test with additional direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, such as a PCR, is not required. Serologic tests are not considered to be direct SARS-CoV-2 viral tests.
You can use the web-based Test to Treat locator to find a participating site near you. You can also call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489) to get help in English, Spanish, and more than 150 other languages. The call center is open from 8am to midnight ET, 7 days a week.
Still, you should call your health department or doctor to report a positive at-home test result. (Here's a list of health departments in the US.) You can also check in directly with your county or city to see if they have a more direct way to report a test result.
If you experience COVID-like symptoms, you should isolate from others for 5 full days after the start of your symptoms, wear a well-fitting mask, be clinically evaluated for COVID-19, and get tested. Tell your health care provider if you are up to date with your vaccines for COVID-19.
>People who have recovered from COVID-19 can continue to test positive for up to 3 months after their infection.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some people who contract COVID-19 can have detectable virus for up to three months, but that doesn't mean they are contagious. When it comes to testing, however, the PCR tests are more likely to continue picking up the virus following infection.
Stay home, except to get needed medical care. Stay home from work and school, and avoid other public places including the store. If you must go out, avoid public transportation or ridesharing/taxis. Stay far away (6 feet or more) from other people. Wear a mask at all times and wash or sanitize your hands often.
Most people with COVID-19 are no longer contagious 5 days after they first have symptoms and have been fever-free for at least three days.
“With Paxlovid, you take three pills, twice a day, for a total of five days," says Rachel Kenney, a pharmacist at Henry Ford Health. "It helps your body fight off the virus, preventing it from replicating before it becomes serious.”
See full answerIf a previously infected person experiences new symptoms consistent with COVID-19 3 months or more after the date of the previous illness onset (or date of last positive viral diagnostic test [RT-PCR or antigen test] if the person never experienced symptoms), the person should undergo repeat viral diagnostic testing. However, serologic testing should not be used to establish the presence or absence of SARS-COV-2 infection or reinfection. These people who have a positive test result should be considered infectious and remain isolated until they again meet criteria for discontinuation of isolation or of transmission-based precautions. Contact tracing during the person’s second episode of symptoms is warranted.
If I already had COVID-19 and recovered, do I still need to get a COVID-19 vaccine? You should get a COVID-19 vaccine even if you already had COVID-19. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine after you recover from COVID-19 infection provides added protection to your immune system.
Studies suggest that reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 with the same virus variant as the initial infection or reinfection with a different variant are both possible; early reinfection within 90 days of the initial infection can occur.
If you continue to have fever or your other symptoms have not improved after 5 days of isolation, you should wait to end your isolation until you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and your other symptoms have improved.
Positive. The test detected the virus and you have an infection. Stay home for at least 5 days and isolate from others in your home.Tell your close contacts. Wear a well-fitted mask when around others. If available, a N95 or KN95 respirator is recommended. Watch for symptoms.
You tested positive for COVID-19. Do not travel until a full 10 days after your symptoms started or the date your positive test was taken if you had no symptoms.
If you are a healthcare provider with medical training, you need to pursue a Healthcare BLS certification. Basic life support, or BLS, goes into more detail about emergency situations and responses that an average bystander can’t address.
There are upsides and downsides to each type of class. Which one you choose should depend on how much time you have to spare, ease of scheduling, what kind of learning you prefer, and what is required by your employer or licensing board.
If you have decided that online CPR classes are right for you, the next step is finding a reputable site with instructors who use the latest guidelines from the American Heart Association and ECC/ ILCOR.
If used, they should be administered as soon as possible after diagnosis and within 10 days of symptom onset. Your healthcare provider will decide whether these investigational treatments are appropriate to treat your illness.
Plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19—called convalescent plasma—can contain antibodies to the virus. This could help the immune system recognize and respond more effectively to the virus, but currently the NIH COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines. external icon.
Your healthcare provider might recommend that you receive investigational treatment. For people at high risk of disease progression. The FDA has issued EUAs for a number of investigational monoclonal antibodies that can attach to parts of the virus.
This guidance is based on the latest CDC recommendations, which can be found here.
COVID-19 self-tests are one of many risk-reduction measures, along with vaccination, masking, and physical distancing, that protect you and others by reducing the chances of spreading COVID.
If you test positive for COVID-19, you may be eligible to receive free and potentially life-saving treatments. The key to effective treatment in most cases is to test early and begin treatment as soon as possible after any symptoms begin.
A viral test tells you if you have a current infection. Two types of viral tests can be used: nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) and antigen tests .
If you test negative, you probably were not infected at the time your sample was collected. The test result only means that you did not have COVID-19 at the time of testing.
Before arriving in the United States, you are required to get tested 3 days before travel by air (or show documentation of recovery from COVID-19 in the past 3 months) and get tested 3-5 days after your trip.