If you feel sick with
symptoms of COVID-19
, assume you have the virus and follow the actions outlined below. Symptoms
of COVID-19 and its variants range from mild to severe and are similar to
the common cold and seasonal flu.
Inform your contacts:
To help prevent the virus from spreading tell your household members and
close contacts that you are sick so they can self-monitor and take extra
precautions recommended for people who may have been exposed. A close
contact is anyone you were less than two metres away from for at least 15
minutes, or multiple shorter lengths of time, and without measures such as
masking, distancing, and/or the use of personal protective equipment in the
48 hours before your symptoms began or your positive test result, whichever
came first.
Stay home:
If you have symptoms stay home and
self-isolate to prevent spreading the illness to others and until ALL
of the following apply to you:
-
your symptoms have been improving for at least 24 hours (or 48 hours if you
had nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea)
-
you do not have a fever
-
you do not develop any additional symptoms.
After staying home:
After your symptoms have improved and you are no longer staying home,
you may still be able to spread the virus. To prevent spreading
COVID-19 to others, take
extra precautions for 10 days
after your symptoms started:
-
wear a
well-fitted mask
in all public settings
-
avoid non-essential activities where you need to take off your mask (for
example, dining out)
-
avoid non-essential visits to anyone who is immunocompromised or may be at
higher risk of illness (for example, seniors)
-
avoid non-essential visits to highest risk settings in the community such
as hospitals and long-term care homes.
Information for people who are immunocompromised
If you are immunocompromised and have symptoms or test positive, stay home
for 10 days after your symptoms started/or positive test result, whichever
comes first, until symptoms are improving for at least 24 hours (48 hours
for nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea), and there’s no fever. If you are
immunocompromised and have symptoms but test negative, you can stop
isolating at home and follow the above recommendations for ‘after staying
home’.