What To Do If You Test Positive For The Coronavirus This Fall Or Winter
As the cooler weather takes hold, a viral pandemic is blanketing the U.S. with infection rates like we've never seen.
As of early December, there are more than 200,000 new U.S. cases reported and more than 1,800 deaths from COVID-19 on average every day. And although we know this illness is dangerous, the hospitalization rate is about 243 hospital stays per 100,000 infections, which means masses of people are having to manage less severe cases at home, too.
Patients are facing time alone with a notoriously unpredictable virus — and that can feel scary, confusing and overwhelming. Those are all sentiments I've heard a lot in my own practice as a family doctor lately.
If you've gotten a positive test result, here's advice from doctors about how to handle a mild to moderate, or even asymptomatic, case on your own — and when you need to seek emergency help.
Isolate yourself from others, starting as quickly as you can
You've probably heard this one plenty, but it's as important as ever: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after a positive COVID-19 test if you're asymptomatic, or at least 10 days of isolation from the start of symptoms if symptoms started, isolation days would still start counting from the first day of symptoms.
