How long have you been contagious with COVID-19?

New information about how COVID-19 behaves is constantly emerging, so we’re learning more about how the virus spreads every day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is mainly transmitted by person-to-person breath drops in close proximity through talking, coughing, or sneezing. Knowing when you are contagious can significantly reduce the risk of transmission to others.

Even if you don’t have or show symptoms of the disease, such as fever, fatigue, or shortness of breath, you can still spread COVID-19, according to the agency. While it is likely to be transmitted when people are around, the CDC recognizes that the infectious virus can linger 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 an infected surface and then touching their mouth, nose, or eyes.

If you come into contact with the virus, it takes two to 14 days from the time you are exposed to COVID-19 to the time you develop symptoms, according to Harvard Health Publishing. During this incubation period, you can still transmit the virus to others, experts say, and people are thought to be most contagious 48 to 72 hours before they start having symptoms, which is why public health officials are urging everyone to wear and stay on away from others.

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

By the 10th day after COVID-19 symptoms disappear, people are believed 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 this.

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

The CDC also suggests that even if you have tested negative for COVID-19, you should go into quarantine if you come across someone who has the virus. “By quarantining yourself for 14 days, you reduce the chances that you may expose others to COVID-19,” the agency said.

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 most likely place for COVID-19 to spread. The CDC released a report finding that “household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is common and occurs shortly after the onset of the disease.” The CDC warned that people should “isolate themselves immediately at the onset of COVID-like symptoms due to high risk exposure, or a positive test result, whichever comes first.” The CDC added that all household members must wear masks in shared areas of the infected individual.

According to Eat This, Not That! The CDC researchers found that it took less than a week for a family member to transmit the virus to another, regardless of whether that person 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 think they are infected should stay in a separate bedroom and use their own bathroom if possible.

The researchers noted that 53% of people living with someone became infected with COVID-19 and 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 already had COVID-19, new data from a survey of 11,000 health professionals in the UK has shown that people infected with COVID-19 can have immunity to symptomatic infection for at least six months.

According to the Daily Mail, the researchers said, “We conclude that SARS-CoV-2 infection appears to result in protection from 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 led the research team, said in a statement that “more than 90% of people who were mildly or moderately ill produce an antibody response strong enough to neutralize the virus, and the response continues. over several months, ”said CNN.