Infected or Exposed to COVID-19?

You isolate when you have been infected with the virus, even if you don’t have symptoms.

You quarantine when you might have been exposed to the virus and may or may not have been infected.

Close contact is:

• Being within 6 feet of a person who has COVID-19 for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period, beginning two days before symptoms developed or two days before taking a COVID-19 test, if asymptomatic.
• Having direct exposure to respiratory secretions from a person who has COVID-19. For example, being coughed or sneezed on, sharing a drinking glass or utensils, or kissing.
• Providing care for a person who has COVID-19
• Living with a person who has COVID-19.

Note: In indoor K-12 settings, a student who is within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student is not considered a close contact as long as both students are wearing masks and the school has other prevention strategies in place. See Guidance for Parents of School-aged Children.

Isolate & Follow Prevention Guidance

Everyone, regardless of vaccination status:

• Day 1 to 5:
  • Stay home and away from others.
• Day 6 to 10:
  • If you have no symptoms or your symptoms are resolving, you can leave your house. Continue to wear a well-fitting mask to reduce any risk of infecting others. See additional guidance below.
  • If you have a fever, continue to stay home until 24 hours after your fever resolves.

If you do not meet all these criteria, remain in isolation until all these conditions are met up to a full 10 days after your first day of symptoms or the day of your test if you have no symptoms.

If you have access to a test and want to test, use an antigen test towards the end of the 5-day isolation period. Collect the test sample only 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.) If your test result is positive, you should continue to isolate until day 10. If your test is negative, you can end isolation after 5 days, but should continue to wear a mask at home and in public until Day 10 and take other precautions (see below).

Do not travel until a full 10 days after your symptoms started or the date your positive test was taken if you had no symptoms.

If you are at higher risk of getting very sick, contact your healthcare provider to see if you are eligible for treatment. Early treatment can prevent you from getting sicker.

I am a close contact of someone who has COVID-19 and am up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations.

Follow prevention guidance

• You do not need to quarantine.
• You may return to work and normal activities.
• Monitor for symptoms in the next 10 days, and if you develop symptoms, follow these instructions.

• You do not need to quarantine.
• You may return to work and normal activities.
• Monitor for symptoms in the next 10 days, and if you develop symptoms, follow these instructions.

I am a close contact of someone who has COVID-19 and am NOT up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations  and have not had COVID-19 in the last 6 months.

• Stay home and quarantine for at least 5 full days. Watch for symptoms until 10 days after your exposure.
• Wear a well-fitting mask if you must be around others at home.
• If you develop symptoms, isolate immediately, get tested and stay home until the results return, wearing a well-fitting mask around others. Do not travel until a full 10 days after you last had your exposure.
• If you do not develop symptoms by day 5 after close contact with a COVID-19 case, get tested. Continue to watch for symptoms until 10 days after exposure.
• Take precautions, including wearing a mask around others, until day 10.