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The dreaded scenario has happened: you’ve tested positive for COVID-19 at the worst khbrknews, with holiday travel, parties, or family gatherings just days away. Does this mean your plans are doomed?
Even nearly three years into the pandemic, the answer is surprisingly complicated.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says most people with mild COVID-19 can end isolation five full days after taking a positive test or the beginning of symptoms, as long as they’ve been fever-free for 24 hours and their other symptoms are improving. The CDC considers the day you took your positive test or developed symptoms to be day zero; your five-day isolation period begins the next day.
That said, there’s a difference between ending isolation and flying to attend a big holiday gathering. Through day 10, the CDC recommends staying away from people at high risk of severe COVID-19, such as those who are elderly or immunocompromised. If you will be around others, the agency says to wear a high-quality mask, such as an N95 or KN95. You can ditch the mask before day 10 if you test negative on two separate antigen tests taken 48 hours apart, the CDC says.
That pair of negative results isn’t guaranteed, even after five days of isolation. In a recent JAMA Network Open study, 80% of people with symptomatic COVID-19 during the first Omicron surge tested positive on rapid tests for longer than five days.
In short: you could still test positive, and potentially remain contagious, after an initial five-day isolation. What does that mean for your holiday plans? We asked two experts—Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and Dr. Tara Bouton, an assistant professor at the Boston University School of Medicine who has researched COVID-19 isolation periods—to weigh in on several…
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