The new ommicron subvariant BA2.12.1 is believed to be responsible for as much as 48% of new COVID-19 cases in the US, up from 39% in the previous week.
Symptoms of the highly contagious virus often resemble the flu or seasonal allergies. Patients report early symptoms, including a scratchy or sore throat, sneezing, or runny nose. These symptoms may remain mild and somewhat limited or worsen and include more traditional COVID symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, fever or chills, fatigue, headache, sore throat, stuffy or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and new loss of taste or smell.
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What should you do if you test positive for COVID-19?
Guidelines on what to do if you test positive for COVID-19 have changed since the start of the pandemic as more research is done on the virus. CNN Medical Analyst Dr. However, Leana Wen, an emergency medicine physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, told the network that the recommended guideline remains that people who test positive should isolate themselves from others.
“Whether they’ve done their own home test and got a positive result or got a positive result from a PCR test, they need to isolate immediately. If they are at home, move to a room away from others. If they are at work, put on an N95 mask to travel through public areas and go home, ideally in your own vehicle,” Wen said.
The isolation period should last five days, with the day on which you test positive counts as zero. If you had symptoms before that, count that day as zero, Wen recommended. Day 1 is 24 hours after the positive tests or when symptoms first appeared.
If you don’t have a fever and your symptoms improve, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said you can leave isolation after 5 days, but it’s recommended that you still wear a mask for up to 10 days. You should continue to avoid being around people at high risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19.
The CDC has a calculator to help you determine how long you should quarantine. You can see that here.
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