The Thanksgiving gatherings have come and gone, but unfortunately that means that many celebrants may have been exposed to COVID-19 during their time with friends and family.
COVID cases generally rise in the colder-weather months anyway, with many gatherings occurring inside and in confined spaces. The holidays the last two years have especially seen cases go up, with the omicron variant tearing through the population in 2021 and the virus hitting some of its highest levels of infection in the winter of 2020.
Much progress has been made in the treatment of the illness, and timelines for isolation have been reduced as scientists have learned more about the virus, but most mitigations are heavily reliant on early detection.
That means getting tested for COVID as soon as is possible after learning of an exposure, and experts lay out a strategy to use in the event that you are exposed, whether or not you are showing symptoms.
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To help, we pulled information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. We also spoke to Dr. Sharon Welbel, the director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control for Cook County Health.
Here is what you need to know.
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If You’ve Been Exposed and You Do Have COVID Symptoms:
-If you test positive, it means that the test detected the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and you most likely have COVID.
You are then encouraged to follow the CDC’s guidance for people with the virus, including staying at home, isolating from others and seeking follow-up care with a health care provider if necessary.
-If you test negative, it is advised that you test again 48 hours after the first negative test.
If you test negative a second time, you can either choose to test again a third time, consider getting a laboratory test, or call your health care provider to evaluate other potential causes of illness, including the flu and RSV, which are both seeing increasing cases around the country.
“(COVID) can really mimic influenza, so it’s impossible to tell,” Welbel said. “It is worthwhile seeing a provider to get molecular tests. (There are) all-in-one tests that test for COVID and influenza and RSV and others. That’s really ideal, because really you want to start therapy in the first few days (after the onset of symptoms).”
If You’ve Been Exposed and You Do Not Have COVID Symptoms:
-In the event you are exposed to COVID-19, the FDA recommends to wait at least five days after exposure before testing. Otherwise, your body may not have sufficient viral load to trigger a positive test.
Even still, Welbel says that there are advantages to testing sooner after exposure to help keep others from getting sick.
“I think it’s good to test a little bit earlier, knowing that the mean calibration period is a little less than three and a half days,” she said. “That way if you know you’re positive, then you can isolate sooner.”
-If you get a negative test result, you are encouraged to take a second test 48 hours later. If you still do not have symptoms following that second test, you are encouraged to take a third test, for a total of three tests in a 96-hour period.
-If you test positive, even if you are asymptomatic, you likely have COVID-19, and are encouraged to follow CDC and FDA protocols.
