What to do, according to experts

• If you’re vaccinated and exposed to COVID-19, most experts Insider has spoken to said you don’t need to worry unless you’re showing symptoms.
• You should get tested if you are symptomatic, but some experts say get tested after any exposure.
• If you are sick, stay away from others, even if it is not COVID.

So your roommate has a cold.

You both were vaccinated months ago, but every time you hear a cough in the next room, you can’t help but wonder if you should get tested for COVID.

Most public health experts would say you’re at peace – probably not sick and probably not contagious – unless you start to experience symptoms. (Your sick roommate, however, should be tested.)

Although COVID-19 vaccines are very effective in preventing serious illness, “breakthrough” infections do occur in people who are fully vaccinated. It may look like a bad cold or have no symptoms.

The Delta variant increased the chances of such an infection, but there are many other viruses, Amesh Adalja, a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Insider.

The only way to be sure is to get tested. But if your roommate’s test comes back positive for COVID-19, what do you do?

gand tested if you develop cold symptoms

If you develop a cough, congestion, or loss of taste and smell after known exposure, you should get tested regardless of your vaccination status.

Start with a rapid antigen test. In studies, rapid tests were about 72% effective at identifying COVID-19 in symptomatic people and correctly ruled out COVID for about 99.5% of people who exhibited symptoms for other reasons.

You can also take a quick test at home. They are more accurate if you get tested every few days, so if you are initially negative you may want to retest to be sure. You can also follow up with a PCR test which also looks for other viruses, Adalja added.

“You also have to remember that now that many people are interacting socially, other viruses have returned – things like rhinovirus and seasonal coronaviruses – so there are other causes of cold-like symptoms,” Adalja said. .

If you don’t have symptoms, many experts say you are Probably clear

The CDC recommends that vaccinated people get tested or quarantined only if they show symptoms of COVID-19.

If you have no symptoms for more than a week after exposure, you can relax, according to Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“The only time you should get tested if you are fully vaccinated is if you are symptomatic, regardless of exposure,” Adalja said.

Charity Dean, a former senior official in the California Department of Public Health, told Insider she was “very disappointed” that the CDC is not seriously tracking mild or asymptomatic infections in fully vaccinated people. Without that information, we risk missing out on a more dangerous “escape variant,” Dean told Insider’s Hilary Brueck.

So, if you make your decision with public health in mind, you might want to get tested even if you don’t have any symptoms.

Quarantine yourself if you feel sick or test positive for COVID

Symptoms of COVID-19 or the seasonal virus indicate that you could be infectious to others.

“If the virus is reproducing well enough in you to cause symptoms, I think that means you are likely to be contagious,” Offit told Insider.

Vaccinated people who contract COVID may be less contagious than unvaccinated infected people, if their reduced viral load is any indication.

However, other experts recommend using common sense before relying on CDC guidelines, which “lack nuance,” emergency physician Leana Wen told CNN.

“I don’t want someone to come to work, who then tells me that they just spent the whole night looking after their spouse who is sick with COVID,” Wen told CNN. “Should that person really be in a crowded conference room with a whole bunch of other people? Does that sound correct to you? It doesn’t pass the common sense test.”

One thing the experts generally agree on: stay away from people if you’re not feeling well.

Pandemic standards – mask wearing, quarantine – still apply if you’re sick and it’s not COVID-19. But if you’re vaccinated and feeling fine, there’s no need to worry, Offit said.

“I think we’re going to be driving ourselves crazy if we expect this vaccine to prevent asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic illnesses,” Offit said. “Just use your common sense. If you develop respiratory symptoms, I think it’s probably a good idea to wear a mask.”