WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE OR ARE EXPOSED TO SOMEONE WITH COVID

I posted something earlier about President Trump’s positive Covid test and about quarantining and isolation and I thought I’d elaborate a little. This issue has exploded after his jaunt out of the hospital in his suv. It was insane. Someone with covid should NOT under any circumstances short of an emergency, be in an enclosed space, let alone a small vehicle with the windows closed with anyone else. If nothing else, he should have also been wearing an N-95 mask, which he clearly wasn’t although the guards he was with were. Irresponsible and in my opinion, criminal. Now, as I posted earlier, all those servicemen must quarantine for 14 days.

What should you do if you were exposed to or have the virus?

1. If you are exposed to someone you think MAY have had covid, but doesn’t have it for sure,there is nothing to do except monitor your symptoms and be in touch with the person about their status. Continue to practice all the basics. Mask, distance, wash hands.
2. If you test positive for covid, symptomatic or not, you need to ISOLATE, unless the exposure was felt to be in the past (at least 14 days prior) and you are not symptomatic. If you are recently infected, you need to isolate which means NO contact with anyone other than essential people who MUST wear PPE.
3. GREY ZONE. If you have had direct contact with someone who turns out to have had Covid-19, you need to self quarantine, which is close to, but not as strict as isolating. How long is debatable and depends on the situation. If you have had significant exposure, then you may need to do the full 14 days from the day of exposure. That means, no travel, no venturing out and no contact with people if at all possible. Why so long? Because it can take that long for symptoms to develop. TESTING? Yes but it probably makes sense to wait 3 days after the initial contact. Immediate testing is more likely to give you a false negative result since there may not be enough virus around to test for. Do you need to ISOLATE? If the test was negative and you are asymptomatic, then you are probably OK. If you have symptoms, you need to repeat the testing.

The above are guidelines. Official policies about isolation and self-quarantining vary from state to state, company to company and, unfortunately, doctor to doctor. It is always better to err on the side of caution if you can or, if you are not clear about what to do, check with your doctor.

In the meantime, do all you can NOT to get sick.

DISTANCE. Physical distancing, not social distancing. We need each other. 

WEAR A MASK.Wear an effective one and wear it correctly. 

WASH YOUR HANDS. Don’t rely on hand sanitizers unless it’s an emergency. DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE.  

VENTILATE.  

VACCINATE. 

GET HEALTHY.  

Stay safe and be well.  

AC 😎✌️🌱❤🐖🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎😷