I've Been Exposed, But I've Had COVID: Do I need to quarantine?
Jan 21, 2021
As communities get increasingly filled with COVID-19 survivors, the recommendations on when to self-quarantine have become more complicated.
If you have had COVID, it is likely you have developed immunity to the disease. But big unknowns remain. Specifically, we don’t know for how long are you immune, or how well your infection-fighting cells will work after natural disease. COVID-19 disease simply has not been on the planet long enough to determine these important details.
Current data suggests immunity after infection might last anywhere from a few weeks to many months. To make these determinations, researchers are using insights by following COVID survivors, combined with data about human coronavirus immunity. Until we know more, however, these are the rules to follow:
If you have had COVID-19 disease in the last 90 days and are exposed to another infectious person, you do not have to self-quarantine. It’s still important that you monitor yourself for symptoms and stay home/re-test if you develop illness. We have seen individuals in KC (adults and kids) get COVID a second time within the 90 day window.
If you are exposed and you had COVID-19 over 3 months ago, best practice is to stay home for 14 days to monitor for symptoms. Alternatively, you can reduce your time in self-quarantine. Please call your doc for these specifics.
As always, talk with your doc if you have questions. We’ll help you get through.
