is "in a dark room and trying to find the exit by touching the walls." The federal government has faced criticism for missing the opportunity to roll out robust testing across the country in the weeks before there were cases of community spread in the U.S.Ĭarlos del Rio, professor of medicine and global health at Emory University, says without the tests in place to do comprehensive surveillance, it's like the U.S. We rarely stop and ask ourselves, 'What will we do differently if the tests are positive and what will we do differently if the tests were negative?' " That question is especially important now, she says, because there are not yet proven treatments for COVID-19. we have a sort of mania for testing," she says, "where if a test exists, you want it. Poorman says in Washington State, where there is clear spread of coronavirus going on in the community, she is fielding calls from worried patients who want to get tested. "Then you could definitively answer, 'Yes, you have coronavirus, and therefore your family members may have been exposed so maybe they could stay home.' I just don't think that's realistic given where we are." "In an ideal world, every person could test themselves at any given time if they have these symptoms - so they know exactly what they have," Nuzzo says. Washington state's health department recently issued guidelines suggesting that people with COVID-19 symptoms but no firm diagnosis "should stay home away from others until 72 hours after the fever is gone and symptoms get better." The CDC recommends that people who test positive for COVID-19 consult with health care providers to determine when they're clear to go back to their usual routines. So that duration of illness can be short, it can be long. "If you're sick, you're isolating at home. "You quarantine when you've been exposed, but you're not sick - and that's for the 14-day incubation period," Popescu explains. Note that this is different from the "14-day quarantine period" now being discussed by public health officials in regards to most of the passengers coming off the Grand Princess cruise ship, for example. "If you are going to do some home food delivery," she suggests, " and have them leave it at the door." Popescu says there are some little things you can do if you're sick to stay home comfortably without infecting other people - again, whatever respiratory illness you have. This is a voluntary activity that people are doing to help keep others safe - they're not being imprisoned in their homes."
"Very, very few people have been ordered to stay at home. "I think sometimes this is framed as 'lockdown,' " says Elisabeth Poorman, a general internist at the University of Washington Neighborhood Kent-Des Moines clinic, south of Seattle. "Stay hydrated, take a fever-reducing medicine if you feel like you need to," says epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Just hunker down at home until you're fully recovered.ĭo the basics to manage your symptoms. Self-isolating at home when you're sick - with coronavirus or any other respiratory infection like influenza - means not going out in crowded public places or on public transit. These are tried and true methods - we just need to be really vigilant with them." They want a novel way to better isolate themselves or some crazy new hand-hygiene technique," says Saskia Popescu, senior infection prevention epidemiologist at HonorHealth, a health system in Phoenix.
"Because this is such a novel situation, people want a novel approach to handling it. Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization notes that 90% of COVID-19 patients have a high fever as an early symptom and 70% have a dry cough.
And you don't need to wait for a COVID-19 test or a doctor's instructions to do it.ĭr. It might be boring advice, but it's critical to stopping the spread of whatever you have.
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