COVID-19 Health & Safety

If you develop COVID-19 symptoms:

1. Take a COVID test right away.
2.  Stay home and avoid others until:
   • You have been fever-free for 24 hours without using fever-reducing medicine, and
   • Your other symptoms are improving
3.  Wear a mask if you must be around other people.
4. If test is positive: Follow the guidelines for a positive test result.
5.  If test is negative: You can return to normal activities if:
   • You have been fever-free for 24 hours without using fever-reducing medicine, and
   • Your other symptoms are improving
6. If your negative result was from an at-home (antigen) test, you should test again at least a day later.

If you have a positive test result for COVID-19:

1. Stay home if you have COVID symptoms and avoid others until:
   • You have been fever-free for 24 hours without using fever-reducing medicine, and
   • Your other symptoms are improving
2. Follow the additional steps below, regardless of whether you do or don't have symptoms.
3. Wear a mask around other people for 10 days after you noticed symptoms or tested positive.
   • You can remove your mask sooner than 10 days if you have negative results from an two at-home (antigen) tests, with at least one day in between tests
4. Avoid contact for 10 days with people at higher risk for COVID
5. Talk with your doctor right away to see if you are eligible for COVID medication or other prescribed treatment

If you learn that you've had close contact with someone who is positive for COVID-19 and you have symptoms, follow the guidance for COVID symptoms.

If you've had close contact and don't have symptoms, follow these steps regardless of your vaccination status:

1. Consider getting tested within 5 days of exposure and before contact with people at higher risk for COVID
2.  If you're in a higher-risk group, or are in contact with higher-risk people, get tested within 5 days of exposure
3. Wear a mask indoors if you are around people at higher risk for COVID for 10 days after your last close contact with someone who had COVID
4. If symptoms develop,
   • Get tested and follow the recommendations for COVID symptoms
   • If test is positive, follow the recommendations for a positive test

Symptoms of COVID-19 can include the following – although not necessarily all of them: fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea.

Getting tested can mean having either a PCR or antigen test for COVID-19. All FDA-approved COVID-19 tests can be used for diagnosis or determining if you are eligible to end isolation, but antigen tests are preferred for ending isolation.

To get free home-testing kits, visit the ASFC Welcome Center (Campus Center, Building 2000 Upper Level Room 2016) or Health Services (Campus Center, Building 2100 Lower Level Room, 2126).

Day 0 is the day you first experience symptoms, provide a sample that produces a positive test result, or have close contact with someone who has COVID-19. Day 1 is the first full day after that. For example, if you test positive on Monday, then Tuesday is Day 1, and so forth.

For smaller indoor spaces (such as homes, waiting rooms or airplanes), close contact means being in that space for a total of at least 15 minutes during a 24-hour period with someone who has tested positive for COVID and has symptoms.

For larger indoor spaces (such as large stores, warehouses or indoor concert venues), close contact means being within six feet for a total of at least 15 minutes during a 24-hour period with someone who has tested positive for COVID and has symptons.

This can include multiple short-duration exposures that add up to at least 15 minutes.

This includes the elderly, residents of group care facilities and people with weak immune systems or other vulnerable conditions.

A person who tests positive for COVID and has symptoms is potentially contagious from 2 days before their symptoms began, until 10 days after their symptoms began.

A person who tests positive for COVID and does not have symptoms is potentially contagious from 2 days before the date of their first positive test, until 10 days after the date of that first positive test.