How do you know if you’ve fully recovered from coronavirus? Here’s what the CDC says
The coronavirus pandemic has infected over 1.4 million people worldwide and continues to spread, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released guidelines for what determines if someone has officially recovered from COVID-19 and when they can stop isolating themselves.
For people who haven’t had a coronavirus test, you’re considered recovered if at least three days have passed without a fever, respiratory symptoms have improved, and at least a week has passed since the onset of symptoms, the CDC said.
For those who have a positive COVID-19 test and symptoms, you’ve recovered if you don’t have a fever without the aid of medicine, respiratory symptoms have improved, and you have two negative COVID-19 tests in a row, according to the CDC.
People who’ve tested positive for coronavirus but don’t have any symptoms can stop self-isolation when at least a week has passed since the test confirming they were positive, the CDC said. They should still stay at least 6 feet away from people and wear a face mask to avoid spreading the virus.
Most people who get sick from COVID-19 get mildly ill and can stay home to recover, the CDC said.
Recovery can take weeks to months depending on the severity, according to Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, CNN reported.
“It takes anything up to six weeks to recover from this disease,” Ryan said, according to CNN. “People who suffer very severe illness can take months to recover from the illness.”
Once you recover from coronavirus, are you immune?
Scientists don’t know if and how long people who have recovered are immune to COVID-19 but antibodies have been found that shows that immunity has developed, according to MarketWatch.
Not that many people have been designated as recovered by the CDC due to the shortage of tests in the U.S. and the requirement of a second negative coronavirus test, MarketWatch reported. As we get more tests in the country, the number of recovered people should increase, the outlet reported.
How long is the virus present after you’ve recovered?
A paper in the medical journal JAMA in February found coronavirus can be found in some patients up to 13 days after symptoms went away, CNN reported. The paper looked at the recovery of four people in Wuhan, China as one was hospitalized and three were quarantined.
As of April 6, over 317,000 people have recovered worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 4:41 PM with the headline "How do you know if you’ve fully recovered from coronavirus? Here’s what the CDC says."