but the test can show you positive for weeks and they say that if your symptoms are improving after 5 days you can stop isolating.
The day you test positive or become symptomatic is Day 0. You isolate for 5 full days after that. Then on Day 6 (assuming improving and fever-free for 24 hours without meds), you can come out wearing a mask. Keep masking through Day 10 unless you test negative.
They actually have more detailed instructions based off of how sick you were (e.g. low oxygen levels, hospitalization), but the above is where you fall.
this says to stay home for 5 days. it doesn’t say that to stay home 5 full days after the first day. to me that means 5 days after the minute i test positive (tomorrow 12/31) i’m out the door on my way to the mall.
oh that’s from december, 2021. nevermind, looks like it’s changed since then to day zero being when you have symptoms
questionable if day 0 is the day i tested positive or the day before. i had a slight feeling in my throat that felt covidy the day before. i think the day before was really day 0 for me, but i didn’t want to test more than once that day and already had tested negative earlier that day.
but that might have been after midnight. JUDGMENT CALL. THE MALL IS CALLING ME!
Note those guidelines is what I told you.
Is this the equivalent of “per my previous email…”?
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yes, but see above. questionable if day zero is the day i tested positive. i had a flutter in my throat before. not sure if it was BEFORE or AFTER midnight though.
the mall is calling me.
Just wear your mask at the mall. Glad you’re starting to feel better.
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At least you have N95 masks. Is the mall dead on NYE?
Not sure. I might be guilted into waiting until new year’s day anyway.
Yes i have n95 masks
Will the mall be open new Year’s Day?
I don’t think the CDC wanted to impose expensive testing on everyone, so they tried to come up with some general guidelines similar to the guidelines they promulgate for flu.
The tests directly test for the presence of virus in your nose, so you are probably contagious as long as you test positive. (Although fewer viral particles does mean less risk of catching a disease, so someone with a faint line is less contagious than someone with a dark line.) All my friends are staying home until they test negative, as they can all afford the tests, and tend to be concerned about spreading covid.
That being said, N95 masks work pretty well to contain viral particles. If you wear the mask carefully, and don’t take it off until you get home, the odds that you’ll infect anyone else seem pretty low.
The six foot rule is bogus, though. It assumes that the virus is only carried on large droplets that fall quickly to the floor, and it’s actually mostly carried by small droplets that can drift in the air for hours. If you take off you mask to eat at the mall’s food court, the next person who sits where you sat (or down wind from it, if the air is moving gently) is at risk.
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Oh, and if you test negative, go to the mall and don’t worry about it.
Is that still true? Or more importantly, will it still be true tomorrow? I need to look into that.
I just did it a few days ago. No idea if its still true in 2023.
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If it was this contagious in simply breathing the same air as someone in a mall who had it 5 days ago but is mostly recovered i don’t think it would have taken me almost 3 years to catch covid and actually living in the same house with someone who had it.
The 5 day mark is less contagious
This sucks. I might have to extend my stay so i can do stuff at the 10 day mark without being accused of attempted murder.
Although the next person who sits at the food court might be a former junior high bully who i dont mind whiping out