It's the critical decision that roughly 20 million Americans who have been infected with COVID-19 have had to face. They've tested positive for the novel coronavirus, recovered and are ready to end their quarantine. Now what? How do they know when it's safe? What's the protocol for seeing friends and family and going back to work? And what about taking another test?
Here are some key questions about what to do next after recovering from coronavirus:
When can I end my quarantine and start seeing other people after recovering from COVID?
Most people can return to their normal routine 10 days after their symptoms first appeared, when they've been without fever for 24 hours and when other symptoms are improving, according to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The loss of taste and smell can persist for weeks or months but should not affect those decisions, according to the CDC.
What if I tested positive but experienced no symptoms?
The same rules exist. The CDC recommends that asymptotic individuals can be with others 10 days after their positive viral test.
What if I had close contact with someone with COVID-19 but did not test positive?
The CDC recommends staying home for 14 days after the last exposure to that person. Some health care providers recommend doing the quarantine even after testing negative following exposure since the virus may not show up early on in the illness.
However those rules do not apply if the person who had the close contact is themselves recovered from COVID within the previous three months and remains without symptoms.
Do I need a negative COVID test before ending my quarantine?
Most people do not require additional testing before they can be around others as long as they meet the other criteria, according to CDC guidelines. In fact, someone who recovered from the virus, and is not symptomatic, can still test positive for up to three months after diagnosis even though they are not infectious to others, the CDC says.
What if I was severely ill with COVID and am immunocompromised? Do the same rules apply?
Potentially no. The CDC recommends that people with severe to critical cases of COVID, or with severely weakened immune systems, could potentially remain infectious for up to 20 days after symptoms first appeared. Immunocompromised COVID survivors could require additional testing to determine if its safe for them to be around others although those decisions should be made in consultation with a doctor, the agency said.
Now that I have recovered from COVID, do I still need to wear a mask, practice social distancing and avoid large crowds?
Absolutely. While it's rare, there have been some confirmed cases of reinfection with COVID-19, according to Harvard Medical School. Experts do not know how long someone is protected from getting sick again after recovering from the virus. The protection gained from having an infection, known as "natural immunity," varies from person to person, experts say.
Someone who has been reinfected, even if they experience no symptoms, also have the potential to spread the virus to others, according to Harvard.
How soon can I can take the antibody test?
Antibody tests can tell if someone has previously been infected with COVID-19. But the infected person doesn't begin producing antibodies immediately, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can take two to three weeks for a blood antibody test to turn positive.
Antibodies may be detected in your blood for several months or more after recovering from COVID-19. While these antibodies likely provide some immunity to the virus, there's not enough evidence to know how long the antibodies last or to what extent a past infection with the virus helps protect you from getting another infection, according to Mayo officials.
If I recovered from COVID, should I still take the vaccine?
People who previously had COVID are still eligible to get the vaccine and may still benefit from getting vaccinated, according to the CDC.
