Overview
If you have tested negative (or “not detected”) for COVID-19, learn how to monitor your health and protect others
Have you been around anyone who has COVID-19?
If you live with, care for, or have recently spent time around someone diagnosed with COVID-19:
Quarantine yourself
- You should stay home after your last contact with the person with COVID-19:
- Quarantine can end after day 10 without testing if you do not have symptoms.
- Quarantine can end after day seven if you do not have symptoms and if you test negative by PCR or antigen test after day five.
- You should continue to monitor yourself for COVID symptoms through day 14.
- Mask wearing is especially important through day 14, and should also continue beyond your quarantine period.
- Stay in a specific room and away from other people in your home to the extent possible. Use a separate bathroom, if available.
- *If you are considered an essential worker, you may be allowed to work during your quarantine period while wearing a mask at all times.
Monitor your health
- If you are not sick, watch for new cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell, fever, chills, congestion/runny nose, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, headache, myalgia or fatigue.
- If you develop any of these symptoms within 14 days of last contact with a person with COVID-19, you may have COVID-19.
- If your symptoms are mild, stay home and monitor your health. If you need medical assessment, call the health clinic or hospital before you arrive and tell the provider that you are a contact to a person who was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Are you sick?
If you have a new cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell, fever, chills, congestion/runny nose, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, headache, myalgia or fatigue:
Isolate yourself
- You should strictly isolate yourself at home.
- Stay in a specific room and away from other people in your home to the extent possible. Use a separate bathroom, if available. Household members can consider staying in a separate location, if available, to decrease their risk of exposure.
Monitor your health
- Get plenty of rest and stay hydrated.
- If needed, take over-the-counter medication to reduce your fever or relieve your symptoms.
- If your symptoms get worse and you need to seek healthcare, call ahead and tell the provider your symptoms.
If you are not sick and have not come into contact with anyone with COVID-19...
Protect yourself and others
- Follow all the appropriate social distancing recommendations.
- Wear a cloth face covering if in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or use alcohol-based hand rub if soap and water are not available.
- Clean and disinfect objects and surfaces regularly, including your phone.
- Cover your cough or sneeze into your elbow or a tissue.
- If you develop symptoms or have additional concerns about your health, contact your healthcare provider.
If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19, follow the steps below to monitor your health and avoid spreading the disease to others
Communicate with public health
After your diagnosis, you may receive a call from public health. It may take a few days for public health officials to contact you, and they will ask about your activities before and after you became ill.
Isolate yourself
- You should strictly isolate yourself at home for at least 10 days after you became ill, and you should be feeling well (and without fever) for at least 24 hours before resuming normal activities.
- Other members of your household should also stay home, and no visitors should be allowed.
- Stay in a specific room and away from other people in your home to the extent possible. Use a separate bathroom, if available. Household contacts can consider relocating to a separate, uninhabited housing location if available to decrease their risk of exposure.
- Where possible, ask others such as friends or family, to get food or necessities for you.
- If you must leave home, such as to seek medical care, wear a face covering if you have one.
Inform your close contacts
- Your close contacts will also need to quarantine according to CDC guidelines.
- Close contacts include anyone that you were within six feet or for >15 minutes while feeling ill. Close contact is defined as being within six feet for at least 15 minutes. However, this depends on the exposure level and setting. The final decision on what constitutes close contact is made at the discretion of public health.
Monitor your health
- High risk patients may be eligible for monoclonal antibody infusion under an FDA Emergency Use Authorization which may limit the severity of your disease. Eligible individuals include those over age 65, or younger individuals with certain chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic lung disease, immunosuppression, and high blood pressure or heart disease. Please discuss your eligibility for this treatment with your doctor or through a Ballad Health Urgent Care or a virtual appointment.
- Remember to get plenty of rest, stay hydrated and, if needed, take medication to reduce your fever.
Arrange for care
If your symptoms get worse and you need to seek healthcare, call ahead and tell the provider that you have been diagnosed with COVID-19. This will help the healthcare provider’s office take steps to keep other people from getting infected or exposed. Be sure to discuss your eligibility for monoclonal antibody infusion to limit the severity of your illness if this option is available to you.
Practice healthy habits
- Wear a cloth face covering in public settings where social distancing is difficult.
- Cover your cough or sneeze into your elbow or a tissue.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for ≥20 seconds, or use alcohol-based hand rub.
- Clean and disinfect objects and surfaces regularly, including your phone.
Returning to regular activities
- Once you’ve completed your isolation period at home (minimum of 10 days, with at least 24 hours of feeling well), you can return to your regular activities.
- You do not need to be retested in order to resume your regular activities. This recommendation is consistent with CDC’s Symptom Based Strategy.
- CDC does not recommend retesting within three months after the first day you became ill from the initial COVID-19 infection: Duration of Isolation and Precautions for Adults with COVID-19
Post-COVID care clinic
Ballad Health has launched the Center for Post-COVID Care to provide a full spectrum of services to patients struggling with post-COVID symptoms.
Learn more about our Center for Post-COVID Care.
Learn More
Learn more about monitoring your health at Centers for Disease Control
For questions, please contact your local health department.