If you have tested positive, there are important steps you can take to help keep yourself and those around you safe: Seek COVID-19 treatment immediately if you have symptoms. Isolate by staying home and away from other people.
What should I do if I test positive? It is strongly recommended that you stay home and take steps to protect others. You may be infectious for up to 10 days. You are most infectious in the 2 days before your symptoms start and while you have acute symptoms (such as a runny nose, sore throat, fever, cough).
There are things you can do to reduce the spread of infection if you have symptoms or have tested positive. To prevent the spread of infection, you should stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you're unwell.
Stay in self-quarantine for 10 days after your last exposure (unless you are fully vaccinated or tested positive for COVID-19 in the past and meet all criteria noted in the section above). Check daily for symptoms, wash hands, always wear a mask and stay at least 6 feet from others for 14 days.
I have symptoms of COVID-19 or have tested positive on a PCR or rapid antigen test. You should stay at home and self-isolate until symptoms have been improving for 24 hours (or 48 hours if gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting or diarrhea) and you do not have a fever, even if a repeated test is negative.
“In the early days of the pandemic, it was recommended to isolate for 10 days after having a positive COVID test. And then a few years ago, the CDC changed its recommendation: you could come out of isolation five days after receiving a positive test and wear a mask for the additional five days.”
Are at-home COVID tests reliable? At-home tests are accurate about 80% of the time.
So, if people test multiple times throughout their infection and see the lines growing fainter, that's probably a good sign that they're almost done with their infection. However, keep in mind, this isn't the case for everyone.