NEVADA COUNTY, Calif. November 27, 2020 – Because of the large number of positive COVID-19 cases in our community, those with a positive COVID test may not hear from the Public Health department.

If you have tested positive for COVID-19, you must follow the Isolation Guidance and share the Quarantine Guidance with your close contacts. Your close contacts must follow the Quarantine Guidance. Learn more about Quarantine vs. Isolation here.

What to do next:

  1. Isolate immediately. “Isolation” is described in the Isolation Guidance document. Please follow those directions carefully to help protect your household and our community.  
  2. Continue to isolate while you are infectious.  
    1. You are considered infectious two days before your symptoms started. If you are asymptomatic, you are considered infectious two days before the day you took your test. You are considered infectious until your isolation ends (see more below).  
  3. Share the Quarantine Guidance with everyone in your household. 
    1. They must quarantine for 14 days from their last exposure to you while you were infectious.
    2. If you cannot isolate from your household members during your infectious period, their quarantine period will continue for 14 days more after your isolation period ends.
  4. Identify all “close contacts” you had while you were infectious.
    1. Share the Quarantine Guidance with all of your close contacts.
    2. They must quarantine for 14 days from their last exposure to you while you were infectious.
    3. Close contacts are everyone who was within 6 feet of you for more than 15 minutes while you were infectious.
  5. Let your employer know if you were infectious while at work. 
    1. Employers can find resources for workplace exposures here. 

Ending your isolation:

You are no longer considered infectious when all three items below are true. When all three are true, you can end your isolation:

  1. It has been at least 10 days since the onset of symptoms (or 10 days from a positive test if you are asymptomatic); AND
  2. You have not had a fever for at least 24 hours, without the use of medications to reduce your temperature; AND
  3. Your other symptoms are improving.

You do not need to get tested again in order to come out of your isolation. Because dead virus particles remain in your body even after you are no longer infectious, the COVID test may still come back as positive. This means the test can’t determine when you are no longer contagious. When your isolation is over, you are no longer considered contagious. 

If You Were Exposed to COVID-19

If you were a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19, you must follow the Quarantine Guidance. (Learn more about Quarantine vs. Isolation here If You Were Exposed to COVID-19 If You Were Exposed to COVID-19 If You Were Exposed to COVID-19If You Were Exposed to COVID-19).

A “close contact” is defined by the CDC as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to their test) until the time the patient is isolated.  

What to do next:

  1. Quarantine at home for 14 days from your last known contact with the person with COVID-19. Follow the instructions in the Quarantine Guidance document.

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