How long have you been contagious with COVID-19?

New information about the behavior of COVID-19 is constantly emerging, so we are learning more about how the virus is spread every day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is primarily transmitted by respiratory droplets from person to person nearby through speaking, coughing, or sneezing. Knowing when you are contagious can greatly reduce the risk of transmission to others.

Even if you do not have or do not have any symptoms of the illness, such as fever, fatigue or shortness of breath, you can still spread COVID-19, according to the agency. However, while it is most likely transmitted when people are nearby, the CDC recognizes that the infectious virus can persist in the air or on surfaces, meaning it can be inhaled even if an infected person has. left the area. Less commonly, a person can get sick by touching a contaminated surface and then touching their mouth, nose or eyes.

According to Harvard Health Publishing, if you come in contact with the virus, it takes anywhere from two to 14 days from when you were exposed to COVID-19 and when you develop symptoms. During this incubation period, you can still pass the virus on to others, experts say, and people are considered most contagious 48 to 72 hours before they start showing symptoms, which is why those responsible for public health urges everyone to wear face masks and stay. away from others.

Harvard experts warn some people don’t develop any symptoms and may be even more likely to spread the disease because they don’t know they have COVID-19. Researcher Daniel Oran co-authored a study on the prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and found that 32% of cases in England and 33% in Spain were asymptomatic.

On the 10th day after symptoms of COVID-19 disappear, people are thought to be no longer contagious, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Even those who are asymptomatic but test positive for the virus should not be contagious after this time, although there have been rare cases to contradict it.

“A full 14-day quarantine remains the best way to avoid spreading the virus to others after being exposed to someone with COVID-19,” Harvard experts write, acknowledging that CDC guidelines now say that you can end your quarantine after 10 days if you have no symptoms, or after seven days if you have a negative COVID-19 test two days before the quarantine ends.

The CDC also suggests that even if you have tested negative for COVID-19, you should quarantine if you have an encounter with someone who has the virus. “By quarantining yourself for 14 days, you reduce the chances of exposing others to COVID-19,” the agency explains.

Those who have been exposed to COVID-19 or tested positive should also be very careful to reduce the risk of transmission to family members.

Home may be where the heart is, but it is also the place most likely to spread COVID-19. The CDC released a report which found that “home transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is common and occurs soon after the onset of the disease.” The CDC warned that people should “self-isolate immediately upon the onset of COVID-like symptoms following high-risk exposure, or upon a positive test result, whichever occurs first. The CDC added that all household members should wear masks in the infected individual’s shared spaces.

According to Eat This, Not That !, CDC researchers found that it takes less than a week for one family member to pass the virus on to another, regardless of whether that individual was a child or an adult. According to CNN, the study, published in a recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, suggested that family members who believe they are infected should stay in a separate bedroom and use their own bathroom if possible.

Researchers noted that 53% of people who lived with someone with COVID-19 were infected and that 75% of these secondary infections occurred within a week, according to CNN.

Here are tips on how to safely quarantine your home if someone develops COVID-19.

If you’ve had COVID-19 before, new data from a study of 11,000 UK healthcare workers found that people infected with COVID-19 may be immune to symptomatic infection for at least six months.

According to the Daily Mail, the researchers said: “We conclude that infection with SARS-CoV-2 appears to result in protection against symptomatic infection in working-age adults, at least in the short term.

A previous US study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that 90% of people who recover from COVID-19 have immunity for at least five months. Professor Florian Krammer, a virologist at Icahn who heads the study team, said in a statement that “more than 90% of people who are mildly or moderately ill produce an antibody response strong enough to neutralize the virus, and the response is sustained. for several months, ”according to CNN.