

Maintain as much distance from others as possible: People should leave a minimum of 6 feet (2 meters) between each other.Healthcare professionals should wear N95 masks. Wear a face mask: People should try to wear two face masks.To reduce the risk of spreading the virus to vulnerable people, it is best to avoid them entirely and to quarantine per the guidelines above. They could quarantine in a basement or an isolated spare bedroom, if the space is available.Īvoid the main areas of the house, especially when other people are there. People who live with others should try to stay away from them as much as possible. Learn more about the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 here. A person should talk with a doctor for more information.


They must also continue quarantining for at least 24 hours after their last fever. People who have COVID-19 or think that they have COVID-19: People should stay away from others for 10 days after symptoms first appear.People who have been in contact with someone with COVID-19: People who believe that they have had exposure to COVID-19 should quarantine at home, away from others outside of the household, for 14 days since they last saw that person.The CDC makes the following recommendations for reducing the spread of COVID-19: Overall, the length of time that the study participants shed potentially contagious virus particles was in the range of 5–16 days. Of these participants, 22 eventually developed symptoms, while nine never did. Researchers looked at 31 people hospitalized for other reasons who tested positive for COVID-19 but did not have any symptoms. If a person does not have symptoms but later develops them, they are pre-symptomatic before they experience the symptoms.Ī 2020 study found that both asymptomatic people and pre-symptomatic people can and do spread the virus. If a person has no symptoms, they are asymptomatic. In people without symptoms, determining contagiousness is difficult, as many people without symptoms may never know that they have COVID-19. Therefore, they may be most contagious shortly before and shortly after symptoms appear.įor this reason, people should ensure that they isolate immediately if they think that they may have come into contact with the virus or if they have developed symptoms. One 2021 review suggests that a person with COVID-19 is most contagious in the first week of illness. It is currently not clear whether the result would be the same for people with mild or asymptomatic disease. However, the study only included people who were receiving treatment in a hospital for moderate to severe COVID-19. These results suggest that shedding may occur for longer than 2 weeks in some people with COVID-19. At 15.2 days, the odds of continuing to shed the virus were less than 5%. The median length of time that participants continued to shed the virus was 8 days after first developing symptoms. One 2021 study included 129 people hospitalized with COVID-19. However, symptoms typically appear within 4–5 days of exposure. Share on Pinterest Justin Paget/Getty ImagesĮxperts believe that the time from exposure to symptom onset, also known as the incubation period, is 2–14 days.
