Nys of Health With the Gut Shot Again

Omicron is so ridiculously contagious that even if you follow recommended precautions, you nonetheless might get it. And if your chore requires you to interact with people or if you take kids in your household, forget it; information technology can feel more similar a "when" rather than an "if."

So while it's still important to effort to keep COVID-nineteen out of your household — since you never know when someone could end up seriously ill — here'southward what to do if you or someone you live with does go it.

We talked to iv experts who laid out the steps y'all demand to accept to care for your physical and mental health, and how to go on your community safety, from the moment you lot or a member of your household has been exposed to when you lot tin leap dorsum into regular life post-recovery.

Because, yep, this can be a scary, stressful and logistically confusing time. And then take a deep jiff. You lot've got this. Hither we become.

Footstep 1: Confirm whether you actually accept COVID

If you are showing signs of a virus (fever, headache, congestion, sore pharynx, gastrointestinal issues), what you practise adjacent might depend on your admission to testing, says Dr. Cassandra Pierre, medical managing director of public health programs at Boston Medical Centre and a parent of 4-year-sometime twins who just had COVID-19.

If you have a decent supply of at-abode antigen tests, says Pierre, go ahead and accept i as soon as you feel ill. "Just do not," she stresses, "use that test every bit proof-positive that you can become out and interact in society, thinking it'southward just a cold." Many people are using an early negative test as a false sense of assurance, she says.

"With the omicron variant," says Pierre, "we're seeing a lot of antigen tests come back negative within the first 2 days of symptoms and then after a few days, come back positive." So if y'all have access to a number of at-dwelling house tests, it's worth taking that early on one considering some people will examination positive in those first couple of days and then they will know they need to isolate (hither's a refresher on the difference between isolation and quarantine).

For those who are symptomatic and exam negative the first time, go ahead and take a second test on Day 3 or iv, says Pierre. That's when most of the positive examination results are coming in with this variant.

A woman compares the results of her rapid calm antigen test to a guide provided in the testing kit on Jan iii, 2021. Jennifer Swanson/NPR hide explanation

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Jennifer Swanson/NPR

A woman compares the results of her rapid at-home antigen examination to a guide provided in the testing kit on January 3, 2021.

Jennifer Swanson/NPR

And if you don't have access to multiple at-home tests? Isolate immediately and salvage your examination for the third or 4th twenty-four hours, she says. If you don't have access to home tests or they aren't in your upkeep, check out free community testing sites in your surface area.

And if you test positive on a rapid test, says Pierre, "it's not necessary to leave and get a PCR examination. Rapid tests have really good sensitivity – especially if y'all are symptomatic."

The only time y'all may want or need to get a follow-up PCR examination, which is more sensitive to the virus, is if y'all become a negative test in those beginning couple of days and need to know immediately if you accept COVID-xix for your task or other reasons.

Step 2: Let people know and cancel plans

1 of the outset (and the best) things you can do for your community is inform all the appropriate people that yous have COVID-19, says Pierre — including everyone you've interacted with. Even though y'all and your household may just have mild symptoms, people that y'all may accept passed information technology on to need to know, says Pierre. This is especially truthful for people who accept not been vaccinated or those with underlying health conditions that put them at chance of severe illness, she adds.

Who exactly needs to know? You should tell friends you've seen, your employer, your kid'southward friends and school administration, says Dr. Michael Smith, professor of pediatrics and interim partitioning chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Duke University Schoolhouse of Medicine. If you constitute out via an at-habitation test, you too demand to permit your local health department know, he says. If you were tested at a pharmacy, medico, or testing site, they do that automatically.

And don't go anywhere unless it is to seek needed medical care or to go a breath of fresh air — away from other people, says Smith. "Don't go to church building, don't go to the stores. Yous can get outside as long as you aren't interacting with anyone."

Also, don't waste your energy feeling badly about yourself because you lot got infected, says Vaile Wright, senior managing director of wellness care innovation at the American Psychological Association.

"There'southward this gut reaction to experience shame and guilt when y'all go COVID — in part considering there'south been so much judgment over the last ii years about how people are behaving during the pandemic. Information technology'south difficult not to internalize that and say 'What did I do incorrect?' The reality is probably nada."

When information technology comes to your employer, know what your supervisor expects from you if you come up down with COVID-xix or if you need to take fourth dimension to care for a sick family member, says Pierre. Find out your visitor's ill get out policy, including any documentation you might demand, like test results.

Be certain to also communicate what you're capable of to your supervisor, says Wright. "If you are feeling extremely stressed, information technology might require request for some flexibility right now or whatever you lot need to take intendance of yourself or your family unit."

Stride 3: Consider seeking medical intendance if you're high chance or take serious symptoms

Nigh people will feel omicron with common cold or influenza-similar symptoms and you lot definitely shouldn't rush off to a medico with a runny nose that y'all can treat at home. Focus on getting residuum and enough of fluids. Withal, there are some circumstances when y'all should seek medical care with omicron.

If you, your kid, or someone in your house is at high risk, it's a practiced idea to achieve out and make that person'south care team aware, says Smith, in case any action needs to be taken. Adults should make certain to go along a precipitous eye on children who are high hazard, he adds.

For questions nigh quarantining or tests, or mild symptoms like fever and body aches, use your primary care provider'due south telehealth, says Dr. Matt Leonard, attending emergency physician at Suburban Hospital, Johns Hopkins Schoolhouse of Medicine.

Dr. Vibin Roy speaks to a patient during an online chief care visit conducted from his habitation, Friday, Apr 23, 2021, in Keller, Texas. LM Otero/AP hide caption

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LM Otero/AP

Dr. Vibin Roy speaks to a patient during an online primary care visit conducted from his dwelling house, Friday, April 23, 2021, in Keller, Texas.

LM Otero/AP

And when should y'all head to an emergency section or urgent care? Leonard says to scout for certain primal symptoms: "When people feel they tin can't get plenty air, or if they are having severe gastrointestinal distress where they can't keep upward with the fluid losses. Or if there is any confusion or change in mental condition — because that is an indicator that your brain isn't getting plenty oxygen or blood flow."

Smith says when information technology comes to kids too young to speak for themselves, y'all need to pay attention to many of the same signs. For babies, brand sure they are hydrated (they have regular wet diapers), and monitor their breathing. Any signs of respiratory distress mean they aren't getting acceptable oxygen.

Leonard says one of the most important things to remember if you're heading to the emergency department is that there is no magic pill that volition brand COVID-19 go away.

"Just similar influenza, there actually isn't a lot of medication that has been proven to be effective for treating coronavirus — particularly omicron," says Leonard. The intendance y'all can expect is treatment for COVID-nineteen symptoms that may be life-threatening. He adds that the medicines shown to be of some aid when it comes to omicron are in short supply and reserved for only the highest-at-chance patients.

Step 4: Come up with a game program that works for your household

Making a COVID programme is something that is ideally done earlier anyone in your house gets the virus, says Pierre, but you can do it after you observe out as well (and hopefully while you're all the same feeling OK).

First, identify the likelihood that you lot or someone in your house will have severe complications from COVID. According to the Centers for Disease Command and Prevention, that list includes anyone older than 65, immunocompromised or with certain underlying medical weather. And so, in consultation with your care provider, consider what treatment options may exist needed, she says.

"Where will you go if you need therapeutics? It's much better to know ahead of time than to be ill and sick and scared and scrambling to identify what treatment options are available," says Pierre.

Second, plan for child intendance disruptions. If someone in your business firm gets sick, who is going to care for the kids? If your child is school-historic period, know how many days they will need to miss school if they are sick or fifty-fifty just exam positive, says Pierre.

Also, while it's important to brand sure your housecleaning game is upped a little bit, says Smith, such as wiping downward surfaces people ofttimes touch, the best defense when trying to protect household members who aren't sick is wearing a mask and frequent paw-washing.

Both Smith and Pierre say isolating sick family members is also a good idea, just they say that's only realistic in some situations. Anyone with limited living infinite won't exist able to isolate easily, says Pierre. Smith adds that it is tough to make kids isolate and not necessarily the all-time thing for their mental health anyway.

Footstep v: Set realistic expectations for your kids — specially the littles

When it comes to kids in a household with COVID-19, remember that kids are kids and make sure your expectations are age-appropriate, say both Smith and Pierre. Small children aren't going to isolate themselves in their rooms, says Smith, but teenagers may exist OK doing that.

Pierre, who just went through her twin four-yr-olds having COVID-19, says she was able to separate them when they were sleeping, but she couldn't always keep them away from each other. "During the 24-hour interval, all bets were off. They wanted to play together and watch the iPad together. They were not 3 feet apart. I did the best I could."

And while information technology's adept for anybody to wear masks to prevent other family members from communicable COVID, don't stress so much near what masks the toddler and really young kids are wearing. "The best mask for a kid is the mask they're going to wear. If your child tin can clothing a surgical mask that'due south proficient. It comes down to what your child is comfortable with and what you lot can practise to maximize the fit," says Smith.

A child wears a KN95 protective mask for kids in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.South., on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide explanation

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Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A child wears a KN95 protective mask for kids in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022.

Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Smith also says to brand sure your bulletin to kids doesn't get too negative. "You lot don't desire to say, 'Yous're sick so we're going to stay abroad from you.' You can't do that for a younger child and that's even the wrong message to give to a teenager."

Wright agrees: "I think that kids can pick up on our moods pretty easily so it does become pretty important to self-regulate every bit much every bit we can," she says.

Also endeavour to model to kids how y'all manage your stress, says Wright. "Come together and play board games. Show them that yes, life is stressful and here is how we're going to manage it the all-time we can."

Wright also says to get creative. Send notes, send funny pictures on your phone if y'all have a child (or anyone) isolating in your house.

Smith says that fifty-fifty with all the advice, you tin can't make a coating argument about how to handle kids when there's COVID in the house. "Each family unit has to weigh how much risk you have to take."

Step 6: Come up upward with some coping strategies and go piece of cake on yourself

Figure out what will aid you get through a stressful time. For Wright, her go-to is walking and listening to podcasts. Her advice is to start something that activates i of the senses to feel more grounded — like taking a walk — but to have a backup in case your become-to isn't possible.

Don't endeavour to get it alone, says Wright, adding that this is a stressful time and you may need to ask for assistance. "It could exist within your own household. Are yous and your partner taking equal help to address the situation? Tin y'all reach out to family and friends to bring you food, supplies?"

Pierre adds that information technology's besides a good time to run across what you lot tin do online, similar ordering groceries and other necessities.

Only lesser line, if you're feeling more overwhelmed than you can handle, seek out professional help. Telehealth is very available these days, she adds.

"Professionals are trained to help you identify patterns of thinking or beliefs that may not be as helpful as they could exist," she says. "And one of the benefits of a professional is that it is a ane-mode relationship. In our friendships and family unit relationships we tin can get support but there is support expected back. With a therapist it is solely focused on you. That's the point."

Pace 7: Make sure you lot're COVID-free and get back to normal

What does a safe return to regular life look like? The CDC says you are fine to become back out into the earth, masked, afterwards five days if your symptoms are improving — including existence fever-costless for 24 hours without the employ of fever reducers. But keep to habiliment a mask at to the lowest degree some other v days, the agency advises. While many people are no longer contagious after five days, a portion of people are and some experts say information technology would be best to go a negative result on a rapid examination earlier you exit in public unmasked.

If you were seriously ill with COVID-19, or are immunocompromised, says the CDC, then await at least 10 days and talk over your situation with your dr..

One time her twins fully recovered from their bout with COVID-nineteen, Pierre says she's been able to cautiously relax a flake. But she has to talk herself downwardly from feeling like her family is now super-immune every twenty-four hour period.

"I feel like I could go to the movies at this betoken. I could go out to dinner with a friend. I can relax when I send my kids to school. Only I don't want to exist flippant."

The antibodies people get from an infection wane over fourth dimension, so yous shouldn't think your protection is now foolproof. And, given that there are always unknowns with this virus, she encourages everyone to continue to abide past recommendations including wearing a mask, physical distancing and taking any new illness seriously even post-COVID.

Taking precautions includes getting vaccinated or additional if yous haven't already, says Leonard. He asks anybody to "cover the free vaccine that prevents y'all from getting seriously ill and prevents you from transmitting the disease and so we tin can all get dorsum to our normal lives quicker."

So can you get the vaccine or booster right after having COVID? Information technology won't injure, say both Pierre and Smith, but wait until your symptoms take gone abroad.

There is, however, enquiry that shows it might exist smart to look longer — about iii months later on a symptomatic case. This will allow the B cells, which help produce antibodies to fight hereafter infections, to mature.

Melanie Ott, a virologist at the University of California, San Francisco, says you lot can think of an infection'due south effect on your immune system like getting one shot of the vaccine. Typically vaccines are spaced to allow the immune arrangement's response to broaden. And immunologist Ali Ellebedy at the Washington University School of Medicine says the longer the menstruum between shots, "the more robust" your immune system's response will be.

If you had already gotten your first two shots before you got COVID, yous now "accept a very stiff immunity," says Ott.

NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff contributed to this written report.

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Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/02/02/1076571934/test-positive-covid-omicron

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