What you should know if your Covid-19 test is POSITIVE
Positive COVID Patient Instructions
Most COVID-19 positive patients can be managed at home. There are guidelines to follow to decrease the chances of spreading the disease to those in your household. Recommendations include:
· Do not leave your home except to obtain necessary medical care that cannot be postponed. Do not visit public areas
· If you have a necessary medical appt or need to go to the Emergency Department, call ahead and tell them you have tested positive for COVID-19.
· No persons other that your family unit (those with whom you live) should be allowed in the house
· The patient should be isolated in a well-ventilated room
· The patient should have access to their own bathroom, if available
· Limit the movement of the patient in the house, avoid the kitchen and sharing food/kitchen items as much as possible
· Keep other household members at a distance of at least 3 feet
· The patient and household members should perform strict hand hygiene, washing as often as possible
· The patient should wear a medical mask as often as possible.
· The patient’s clothes and bedding should be washed in hot water
· Limit contact with household pets as they could possibly act as a vector of transmission
Household members should remain in the house/property as well given their exposure to the COVID + patient, and call their PCP office to alert of infected household member.
We recommend notifying anyone that you have had close contact with in the past 5 days that you have tested positive. Those persons should remain quarantined themselves and call their PCP.
At this time there is no approved treatment for the virus itself. Treatment is only directed at individual symptoms.
Isolation should continue for a period of 14 days AFTER symptoms have resolved, as per the World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications-detail/home-care-for-patients-with-suspected-novel-coronavirus-(ncov)-infection-presenting-with-mild-symptoms-and-management-of-contacts