Can Just Opening an Email Give You a Virus

If you lot've been exposed, are sick, or are caring for someone with COVID-19

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If you've been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or begin to experience symptoms of the disease, you may be asked to cocky-quarantine or self-isolate. What does that entail, and what can you do to prepare yourself for an extended stay at abode? How presently afterwards you're infected will you start to be contagious? And what tin you do to prevent others in your household from getting ill?

Visit our Coronavirus Resource Centre for more information on coronavirus and COVID-19.

Spring to: Symptoms | Testing | Antibodies | Contagiousness | Long Term Effects

Symptoms of COVID-nineteen

What are the symptoms of COVID-xix?

Some people infected with the virus have no symptoms. When the virus does cause symptoms, common ones include fever, trunk ache, dry coughing, fatigue, chills, headache, sore pharynx, loss of ambition, and loss of scent. In some people, COVID-19 causes more severe symptoms like loftier fever, astringent cough, and shortness of breath, which often indicates pneumonia.

People with COVID-xix can besides feel neurological symptoms, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, or both. These may occur with or without respiratory symptoms.

For example, COVID-19 affects brain function in some people. Specific neurological symptoms seen in people with COVID-nineteen include loss of aroma, inability to taste, muscle weakness, tingling or numbness in the hands and feet, dizziness, confusion, delirium, seizures, and stroke.

In addition, some people have gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, such as loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal hurting or discomfort associated with COVID-xix.

What should I do if I think I or my child may take a COVID-19 infection?

First, call your md or pediatrician for advice.

If yous do not accept a physician and y'all are concerned that yous or your child may have COVID-xix, contact your local board of wellness. They can straight you to the best place for testing and treatment in your expanse. Over-the-counter tests may also exist available at your local chemist's or grocery shop.

If you practice test positive and either take no symptoms or tin recover at home, yous will nevertheless need to

isolate at home for five days
if yous have no symptoms or your symptoms are improving after five days, you tin discontinue isolation and leave your dwelling
continue to wear a mask effectually others for five additional days.

If you have a fever, continue to isolate at home until you no longer have a fever.

If yous take a high or very low body temperature, shortness of breath, confusion, or feeling you might laissez passer out, you demand to seek immediate medical evaluation. Call the urgent intendance middle or emergency department alee of time to permit the staff know that yous are coming, and then they tin be prepared for your inflow.

How do I know if I have COVID-19, the flu, or just a common cold?

Now that the Omicron variant of COVID-nineteen is the dominant strain, telling the difference is more challenging than always. Even if you have been vaccinated and boosted, yous can still get symptoms, but they are likely to exist mild to moderate in severity. For those non vaccinated, the risk of astringent symptoms that can be life-threatening is still substantial.

At the current time, people with "flulike" symptoms should assume they take COVID. If possible, arrange to become tested or do a dwelling test. If the examination is positive, you should isolate at dwelling house for five days. If you had a negative test when symptoms started, it'south still all-time to isolate at domicile for two to three more than days, to monitor your symptoms and prevent spreading infection. (That's because there is a chance of false negatives with antigen tests, which means y'all can nonetheless have COVID with a negative test.) Consider testing again before going out. One time you are set to leave home, continue to consistently clothing a mask for at to the lowest degree 5 more days.

COVID-19 Testing

I recently spent time with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. I'k fully vaccinated and additional. Do I demand to get tested?

Co-ordinate to the latest CDC guidelines, if you are vaccinated and additional, or have gotten your initial vaccine series inside the last six months (for Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna) or the last 2 months (for Johnson & Johnson), y'all should article of clothing a mask around others for 10 days and accept a COVID test on day 5, if possible. If you lot develop symptoms, get tested sooner and isolate at abode.

If yous are unvaccinated, had your last Pfizer or Moderna shot more than six months agone and have not been boosted, or had your Johnson & Johnson show more than two months ago and have not been additional, you lot should stay home for v days and wear a mask around others for an additional five days. If you tin't quarantine, wear a mask around others for ten days. Get tested for COVID on day five, if possible. If you develop symptoms at any fourth dimension, get tested and isolate at home.

What is the difference between a PCR test and an antigen test for COVID-19?

PCR tests and antigen tests are both diagnostic tests, which ways that they can be used to determine whether you lot currently have an active coronavirus infection. However, there are important differences betwixt these two types of tests.

PCR tests detect the presence of the virus's genetic cloth using a technique called reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR. For this exam, a sample may be collected through a nasal or throat swab, or a saliva sample may be used. The sample is typically sent to a laboratory where coronavirus RNA (if nowadays) is extracted from the sample and converted into Deoxyribonucleic acid. The DNA is and then amplified, meaning that many copies of the viral DNA are made, in order to produce a measurable upshot. The accuracy of any diagnostic examination depends on many factors, including whether the sample was collected properly, when during the course of illness the testing was washed, and whether the sample was maintained in advisable weather while it was shipped to the laboratory. More often than not speaking, PCR tests are highly accurate.

Antigen tests notice specific proteins on the surface of the coronavirus. They are sometimes referred to as rapid diagnostic tests because it can accept less than an hour to get the test results. Positive antigen test results are highly specific, meaning that if you test positive you are very likely to be infected. However, there is a college gamble of false negatives with antigen tests, which means that a negative result cannot definitively rule out an active infection. If you have a negative result on an antigen test, your dr. may order a PCR test or a 2nd rapid antigen test to ostend the event.

It may be helpful to think of a COVID antigen test as you would recall of a rapid strep exam or a rapid influenza test. A positive result for whatever of these tests is likely to exist accurate, and allows diagnosis and treatment to begin rapidly, while a negative result oftentimes results in further testing to confirm or overturn the initial effect.

How reliable are the tests for COVID-19?

Two types of diagnostic tests are currently bachelor in the Us. PCR tests observe viral RNA. Antigen tests, also called rapid diagnostic tests, detect specific proteins on the surface of the coronavirus. Antigen exam results may come dorsum in as little as 15 to 45 minutes; you may await several days for PCR exam results.

The accuracy of any diagnostic test depends on many factors, including whether the sample was collected properly. For PCR tests, which are typically analyzed in a laboratory, examination results may be affected by the weather in which the exam was shipped to the laboratory.

Results may also be afflicted by the timing of the test. For case, if you are tested on the twenty-four hour period yous were infected, your test result is almost guaranteed to come back negative, because there are not nevertheless plenty viral particles in your nose or saliva to find. The chance of getting a false negative test result decreases if y'all are tested a few days after yous were infected, or a few days after you develop symptoms.

Generally speaking, if a test issue comes back positive, it is most certain that the person is infected.

A negative test result is less definite. At that place is a higher hazard of false negatives with antigen tests, and early data suggests that antigen tests may be fifty-fifty more likely to miss the Omicron variant. If you have a negative result on an antigen test, your medico may society a PCR exam or recommend a second rapid antigen exam to ostend the event.

If y'all feel COVID-similar symptoms and get a negative PCR test result, there is no reason to repeat the test unless your symptoms get worse. If your symptoms do worsen, phone call your doctor or local or state healthcare section for guidance on further testing. You lot should also self-isolate at domicile. Wearable a mask when interacting with members of your household. And practice physical distancing.

What is serologic (antibody) testing for COVID-19? What can it be used for?

A serologic exam is a blood test that looks for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 created by your allowed system in response to infection or vaccination.

Your body takes ane to three weeks later on you take caused the infection to develop antibodies to this virus. For this reason, serologic tests are not sensitive enough to accurately diagnose an agile COVID-19 infection, even in people with symptoms.

Antibodies and Spreading COVID-19

I've heard that the immune system produces different types of antibodies when a person is infected with the COVID-nineteen coronavirus. How exercise they differ? Why is this important?

When a person gets or is vaccinated confronting a viral or bacterial infection, a healthy allowed organization makes antibodies against one or more components of the virus or bacterium.

The COVID-nineteen coronavirus contains ribonucleic acid (RNA) surrounded by a protective layer, which has spike proteins on the outer surface that tin latch on to certain human cells. Once inside the cells, the viral RNA starts to replicate and also turns on the product of proteins, both of which allow the virus to infect more cells and spread throughout the trunk, especially to the lungs.

While the immune arrangement could potentially respond to different parts of the virus, it's the fasten proteins that get the most attending. Allowed cells recognize the spike proteins every bit a foreign substance and begin producing antibodies in response.

There are two main categories of antibodies:

Bounden antibodies. These antibodies can bind to either the spike poly peptide or a different protein known as the nucleocapsid poly peptide. Binding antibodies can be detected with blood tests starting about one week afterward the initial infection. If antibodies are plant, information technology's extremely likely that the person has been infected with the COVID-nineteen coronavirus. The antibody level declines over time afterwards an infection, sometimes to an undetectable level.

Binding antibodies help fight the infection, but they might not offering protection against getting reinfected in the future. It depends on whether they are as well neutralizing antibodies.

Neutralizing antibodies. The body makes neutralizing antibodies that attack the coronavirus's fasten protein, making it more than difficult for the virus to attach to and enter man cells. Neutralizing antibodies provide more lasting protection than binding antibodies against reinfection.

Monoclonal antibodies are manmade versions of neutralizing antibodies. The FDA has authorized monoclonal antibody treatments for certain groups of COVID-19 patients.

Can a person who has been infected with coronavirus become infected again?

The immune system responds to COVID-19 infection by stimulating white claret cells called lymphocytes to form antibodies that fight the infection. These antibodies and lymphocytes retain a temporary protective effect against reinfection. Only it is only temporary. There have been many confirmed cases of reinfection with COVID-19. In other words, a person got sick with COVID-19, recovered, and then became infected once again.

This has been especially true as the coronavirus has mutated into COVID-xix variants. There was a rise in reinfections with the Delta variant, and an explosive increase in the reinfection rate due to the Omicron variant. Omicron has about l mutations, including more than thirty mutations on the spike poly peptide, the region of the virus that our allowed systems recognize subsequently previous infection. Considering of this, Omicron is more capable than previous variants of evading our allowed defenses and causing reinfection.

We have learned that vaccination plus a booster dose strengthens the natural immune response, even in those who have been previously infected, and further reduces the risk of reinfection. Although quantum infections after vaccination are also more than common with Omicron than previous variants, vaccination continues to protect well against astringent affliction.

The bottom line? Get vaccinated and additional whether or not y'all've already had COVID-19.

Contagiousness of COVID-19

How soon after I'm infected with the new coronavirus volition I kickoff to be contagious?

The time from exposure to symptom onset (known every bit the incubation catamenia) is thought to be two to 14 days. Symptoms typically appeared within 5 days for early variants, and inside four days for the Delta variant. The incubation menstruation appears to be fifty-fifty shorter – about three days – for the Omicron variant.

Nosotros know that people tend to be most infectious early in the course of their infection. With Omicron, about transmission occurs during the i to ii days before onset of symptoms, and in the two to 3 days afterwards.

Wearing masks, peculiarly indoors, can help reduce the chance that someone who is infected but non nonetheless experiencing symptoms may unknowingly infect others.

Can people without symptoms spread the virus to others?

"Without symptoms" tin can refer to 2 groups of people: those who eventually practice have symptoms (pre-symptomatic) and those who never keep to take symptoms (asymptomatic). During this pandemic, we have seen that people without symptoms can spread the coronavirus infection to others.

A person with COVID-19 may be contagious 48 hours before starting to experience symptoms. In fact, people without symptoms may be more likely to spread the illness, because they are unlikely to exist isolating and may non adopt behaviors designed to prevent spread.

But what about people who never become on to develop symptoms? A written report published inJAMA Network Open institute that well-nigh one out of every four infections may be transmitted past individuals with asymptomatic infections. The proportion of asymptomatic transmission appears to be even higher with the Omicron variant.

Getting vaccinated and boosted in one case you lot are eligible is important for protecting not merely yourself but others as well; evidence suggests that you're less likely to infect others, or may be contagious for a shorter period of time, in one case y'all've been vaccinated.

For how long later I am infected will I continue to be contagious? At what point in my illness will I be most contagious?

People are thought to be almost contagious early in the form of their illness. With Omicron, well-nigh transmission appears to occur during the i to ii days before onset of symptoms, and in the ii to iii days after. People with no symptoms tin can also spread the coronavirus to others.

By the tenth day after COVID symptoms begin, most people volition no longer be contagious, as long equally their symptoms have continued to improve and their fever has resolved. People who test positive for the virus but never develop symptoms over the following 10 days subsequently testing are besides probably no longer contagious.

The CDC's isolation guidelines, updated in December 2021, reflect this noesis. According to the guidelines, everyone who tests positive for COVID-xix should

isolate at home for five days
if you lot have no symptoms or your symptoms are improving afterwards five days, you can discontinue isolation and get out your domicile
continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days.

If you have a fever, proceed to isolate at home until yous no longer have a fever.

I'm vaccinated but got a breakthrough COVID infection. Can I yet spread the infection to others?

Aye, you can. That's why the CDC recommends that everyone who tests positive for COVID-19 should isolate from others for at least v days, regardless of their vaccination status.

How can I protect myself while caring for someone that may have COVID-19?

Y'all should take many of the same precautions as yous would if you lot were caring for someone with the influenza:

Stay in another room or be separated from the person as much as possible. Use a separate bedroom and bathroom, if available.
Make sure that shared spaces in the dwelling accept good air menstruation. If possible, open up a window.
Wash your easily oftentimes with lather and water for at least 20 seconds or utilize an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains 60 to 95% alcohol, covering all surfaces of your hands and rubbing them together until they feel dry. Use soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
Avoid touching your optics, nose, and mouth with unwashed easily.
Y'all and the person should vesture a face mask if yous are in the same room.
Clothing a disposable face mask and gloves when you lot touch or take contact with the person'south blood, stool, or body fluids, such equally saliva, sputum, nasal mucus, vomit, urine.
- Throw out disposable face masks and gloves after using them. Do not reuse.
- First remove and throw away gloves. Then, immediately clean your hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Next, remove and throw away the face mask, and immediately make clean your hands again with soap and water or booze-based hand sanitizer.
Practice not share household items such equally dishes, drinking spectacles, cups, eating utensils, towels, bedding, or other items with the person who is sick. Afterwards the person uses these items, wash them thoroughly.
Clean all "high-touch on" surfaces, such as counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bath fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables, every day. Also, make clean any surfaces that may take blood, stool, or body fluids on them. Employ a household cleaning spray or wipe.
- Wash laundry thoroughly.
- Immediately remove and wash clothes or bedding that take claret, stool, or body fluids on them.
Wear disposable gloves while handling soiled items and keep soiled items away from your torso. Clean your hands immediately after removing your gloves.
Identify all used disposable gloves, confront masks, and other contaminated items in a lined container earlier disposing of them with other household waste. Clean your hands (with soap and water or an booze-based hand sanitizer) immediately after handling these items.

Tin people infect pets with the COVID-19 virus?

The virus that causes COVID-nineteen does appear to spread from people to pets, according to the FDA, though this is uncommon. Inquiry has establish that cats and ferrets are more probable to become infected than dogs.

If you get sick with COVID-nineteen, information technology'south all-time to restrict contact with your pets, just like you would around other people. This means yous should forgo petting, snuggling, being kissed or licked, and sharing nutrient or bedding with your pet until you lot are feeling better. When possible, have some other member of your household treat your pets while y'all are sick. If yous must intendance for your pet while yous are ill, wash your hands before and after you interact with your pets and vesture a confront mask.

Now, it is considered unlikely that pets can spread the COVID-nineteen virus to humans. However, pets tin spread other infections that crusade affliction, includingE. coli and Salmonella, and then wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water subsequently interacting with your animal companions.

Long Term Effects of COVID-19

I had COVID-19 a few months ago. Am I at increased risk for health problems in the time to come?

It does appear that people who recover from COVID-19 take an increased risk of developing other medical weather condition, at least in the short term.

One report, published inThe BMJ, collected laboratory test and hospital admissions data from a health plan in the US. The researchers compared information from more 190,000 adults, ages 18 to 65 years, who tested positive for the SARS-CoV-two virus in 2020, to data from a control group that was collected in 2019, before the pandemic. The researchers followed the participants for six months after they tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and recorded any new health complications.

They establish that 14% of people who had had COVID-19 adult a new medical issue during the post-obit six months; this was virtually 5% college than the pre-pandemic command group, a significant difference. New medical problems affected a range of body systems and included respiratory failure, abnormal eye rhythms, diabetes, neurological bug, and liver and kidney problems. Increased risk was seen in younger, previously healthy people, but was higher in older people and those with pre-existing medical problems.

Another study, published inNature, compared the health records of more than than 73,000 users of the Veteran'south Health Administration (VHA) who tested positive for SARS-CoV-ii only were never hospitalized, to those of near five million other VHA users who never tested positive for COVID-nineteen and were never hospitalized. For six months post-obit the outset xxx days after infection, people who had had COVID-19 were significantly more probable to dice or to experience a medical or mental wellness problem that they had never had before.

These studies provide yet another reason to get vaccinated and boosted if you are eligible.

Who are long-haulers? And what is post-viral syndrome?

Long haulers are people who have not fully recovered from COVID-nineteen weeks or fifty-fifty months after first experiencing symptoms. Some long haulers experience continuous symptoms for weeks or months, while others experience meliorate for weeks, so relapse with erstwhile or new symptoms. The constellation of symptoms long haulers feel, sometimes called postal service-COVID-19 syndrome or mail service-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), is non unique to this infection. Other infections, such as Lyme illness, can crusade similar long-lasting symptoms.

Emerging research may help predict who will become a long hauler. One written report establish that COVID-19 patients who experienced more than than five symptoms during their commencement week of illness were significantly more likely to become long haulers. Certain symptoms — fatigue, headache, difficulty breathing, a hoarse voice, and muscle or body aches — experienced lonely or in combination during the first week of illness also increased the chances of becoming a long hauler, as did increasing age and higher body mass alphabetize (BMI).

Though these factors may increment the likelihood of long-term symptoms, anyone can become a long hauler. Many long haulers initially have mild to moderate symptoms — or no symptoms at all — and practice not require hospitalization. Previously good for you young adults, not just older adults with coexisting medical weather, are also experiencing post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Symptoms of mail service-COVID-19 syndrome, like symptoms of COVID-19 itself, tin vary widely. Some of the more mutual lasting symptoms include fatigue, worsening of symptoms after physical or mental activity, brain fog, shortness of breath, chills, torso ache, headache, joint pain, chest pain, cough, and lingering loss of taste or smell. Many long haulers report cerebral dysfunction or memory loss that affects their solar day-to-twenty-four hours ability to practice things like make decisions, have conversations, follow instructions, and drive. The common thread is that long haulers haven't returned to their pre-COVID health, and ongoing symptoms are negatively affecting their quality of life. A systematic review published in JAMA Network Open reported that more than than half of people infected with COVID-xix continued to experience at least one symptom six months later their diagnosis.

There'due south already some speculation, just no definite answers, about what is causing these ongoing symptoms. Some researchers suspect that SARS-CoV-ii infection triggers long-lasting changes in the immune organization. Others propose that it triggers autonomic nervous system dysregulation, which tin can impact heart rate, claret pressure, and sweating, among other things.

Blog posts:

Could COVID-19 infection exist responsible for your depressed mood or anxiety?
What is COVID-19 brain fog — and how tin you clear it?
The tragedy of the post-COVID "long haulers"
The subconscious long-term cognitive effects of COVID
Which test is best for COVID-xix?
Allergies? Common cold? Flu? Or COVID-19?

Podcast:

You lot think you've got COVID-19. Here's what y'all demand to practise (recorded 4/x/twenty)

We asked Dr. Mallika Marshall, medical reporter for CBS-affiliate WBZ Boob tube in Boston and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, how we should react when we showtime to feel a dry cough or perhaps spike a fever. Who do you phone call? How practice you protect your family? When does information technology brand sense to move toward an emergency department, and how should we set up? Dr. Marshall is the host of Harvard Health Publishing's online course serial, and an urgent care physician at Mass General Hospital.

Visit our Coronavirus Resource Center for more information on coronavirus and COVID-nineteen.

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Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/if-youve-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus