So, I’ve done All The Things for Covid prevention - masks, vaccines, distancing, blah blah blah. The big caveat to all that is that my husband is a doc in a rural health clinic in the southern US, and I work retail 40 hrs a week. So, he caught and of course I got it too (probably from him, but … who knows). Given my crap lungs I got very lucky - it wiped out my energy for a few days and now I essentially have what feels like a pretty standard cold. I’m coughing like a tubercular seal, but that’s par for the course with me for even the slightest URI. Sounds much worse than it it, mostly.
My real question that I’m having trouble researching accurately is:
Once I test negative - now what?
Am I super-protected? Do I need to continue to mask? I will at work to make my masked customers more comfortable, but it appears that chances of reinfection are there but slight, and mostly in compromised people.
I’m guessing that yearly shots will be necessary, I can and will do that but it’s about 9 months away.
Can I stop worrying?
Is there a vax for Covid Burnout/Pandemic Fatigue? If so, sign me up - I’ve got a wicked case …
He’s not a Covid specialist, and has enough on his plate keeping his patients healthy despite themselves. His focus is still on how to get people to get vaccinated, wear masks, stay distanced - the bare basics. Also in treating those who are currently very ill. At the moment he doesn’t have the luxury of “what next?” The degree of DO (or MD) does not automatically convey all knowledge of all things medical, alas.
I wasn’t actually asking opinion, I guess I phrased it badly. I was hoping someone had a link to anything useful with how we proceed from here. Sorry to bother you.
“The University of Washington’s own highly influential model projects that the number of daily reported cases in the U.S. will crest at 1.2 million by Jan. 19 and will then fall sharply “simply because everybody who could be infected will be infected,”
We’ve gone through one-way grocery store aisles, arrows on the floor were silly, wiping down the moving belt, wiping the belt was silly, masks, no masks, gaiters, no gaiters, masks, no valves, cloth masks, double masks, no cloth masks, triple masks, no handshaking, lockdowns, close schools, open schools, close schools again, go in nursing homes, don’t go in nursing homes, you get the idea.
Pretty much whatever form of security theater the authorities in your locale decide you must do next week is the way it will be. I suggest the Covid thing is so complex that nobody really knows what to do but those with the power to do so will continue to make things up because, after all, doing something is better than doing nothing, right? And besides, what’s the point of having power if they don’t get to tell other people what to do?
My own personal best guess about what to do is: Don’t be fat or diabetic and do your best to handle any other health issues you may have before you get sick; everything else is up in the air.
I have not seen any guidelines that suggest that you should mask differently after having been infected than you would if you had just gotten all your shots.
Since you’re vaxxed, boosted, and have had COVID, you’re free to kiss random strangers, lick doorknobs and subway polls, and chew gum stuck under chairs and tables. Enjoy your new freedom!
I would say to continue to mask where the guidelines and regulations tell you to mask, wash your hands, and move on with life. If you were avoiding having people over, you could probably loosen that up until the next variant comes along (maybe the French variant? Achoo-la-la!).
If you have a history of vulnerability with respiratory infections, you should be masked all the time anyway, pandemic or no. Yeah, in the past, people would not mask for social reasons, but mask-wearing is now normalized so anyone who wants to avoid respiratory infections should mask.
Ending isolation for people who had COVID-19 and had symptoms
If you had COVID-19 and had symptoms, isolate for at least 5 days. To calculate your 5-day isolation period, day 0 is your first day of symptoms. Day 1 is the first full day after your symptoms developed. You can leave isolation after 5 full days.
You can end isolation after 5 full days if you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and your other symptoms have improved (Loss of taste and smell may persist for weeks or months after recovery and need not delay the end of isolation).
You should continue to wear a well-fitting mask around others at home and in public for 5 additional days (day 6 through day 10) after the end of your 5-day isolation period. If you are unable to wear a mask when around others, you should continue to isolate for a full 10 days. Avoid people who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe disease, and nursing homes and other high-risk settings, until after at least 10 days.
If you continue to have fever or your other symptoms have not improved after 5 days of isolation, you should wait to end your isolation until you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and your other symptoms have improved. Continue to wear a well-fitting mask. Contact your healthcare provider if you have questions.
Do not travel during your 5-day isolation period. After you end isolation, avoid travel until a full 10 days after your first day of symptoms. If you must travel on days 6-10, wear a well-fitting mask when you are around others for the entire duration of travel. If you are unable to wear a mask, you should not travel during the 10 days.
Do not go to places where you are unable to wear a mask, such as restaurants and some gyms, and avoid eating around others at home and at work until a full 10 days after your first day of symptoms.
Related question. Say a person is vaxed and boosted and then has the mild symptoms that could be a cold, flu or Covid. After they’ve recovered, is there any test that can evaluate antibodies to determine if they had Covid or will the vaccine distort that case.