People with mild illness are generally considered recovered after 7 days if they have been asymptomatic or have not developed any new symptoms during this time. But some people may be infectious for up to 10 days.
Most people who test positive with any variant of COVID-19 typically experience some symptoms for a couple weeks. People who have long COVID-19 symptoms can experience health problems for four or more weeks after first being infected, according to the CDC.
You are most infectious (or contagious) in the first 5 days after your symptoms start. You can also spread COVID-19 in the 48 hours before your symptoms start. If you never have symptoms, consider yourself most infectious in the 5 days after you test positive.
Many people who are infected have more mild symptoms like a scratchy throat, stuffy or runny nose, occasional mild cough, fatigue, and no fever. Some people have no symptoms at all, but they can still spread the disease.”
Even if you had mild or no symptoms when you were first infected, you can be impacted by long COVID. For some, long COVID symptoms can be more severe than the acute COVID-19 infection itself.
You may continue to test positive on antigen tests for a few weeks after your initial positive. You may continue to test positive on NAATs for up to 90 days. Reinfections can occur within 90 days, which can make it hard to know if a positive test indicates a new infection.
If I Have COVID-19, How Long Am I Contagious? According to the CDC, if you have mild to moderate COVID-19, you may be contagious for 10 days from the first day you noticed symptoms. If you were severely affected or critically ill from COVID-19, you may stay infectious for up to 20 days from the start of your symptoms.
A person may have mild symptoms for about one week, then worsen rapidly. Let your doctor know if your symptoms quickly worsen over a short period of time.
Most people with COVID-19 will have mild symptoms and feel better within a few weeks.
Although many people will no longer be infectious to others after 5 days, some people may be infectious to other people for up to 10 days from the start of their infection. If you have a high temperature or still feel unwell after the 5 days, continue to try to stay at home.
You are contagious for the entire period of time symptoms are present, all the way until they disappear.
Timeline of Symptoms
Days 4–6: These are important days to be more aware of your symptoms. This is when lung (respiratory) symptoms may start to get worse, especially for older people and people who have other conditions like high blood pressure, obesity, asthma or diabetes. toes or fingers.
On June 30, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added three symptoms to its COVID-19 list: Congestion/stuffy nose, nausea and diarrhea. Those three new conditions now join other symptoms identified by the CDC: Fever.
Gradually build up exercise – seize the time when you are feeling less tired and go for a short walk – but you MUST still avoid any contact with others. However, at this stage lookout for breath related symptoms (see below what to look for).
What does seem clear is that people with symptoms of COVID-19 are more contagious. And that the viral load tends to peak in the week after their symptoms first appear.
A dry cough is one of the most common coronavirus symptoms, but some people may have a cough with phlegm (thick mucus). It can be difficult to control your cough but there are a few ways to help.
Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus.
You may need to get tested even if you do not have symptoms. You can have COVID-19 and spread it to others even if you do not have symptoms. Your COVID-19 test can be negative even if you are infected. Most people do not test positive for the virus until days after exposure.
Both PCR tests and antigen tests (including home tests) can continue to turn up positive even after someone is no longer considered infectious.
Unfortunately, yes—it is possible.
Green and cloudy: viral or bacterial infection
A lot of the symptoms of viral infections – fever, cough, headache, loss of smell – overlap for COVID-19 and other viral infections like the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and the common cold.
Because COVID-19 is an illness caused by a virus, a COVID-19 sore throat may look and feel like other viral sore throats. One clue that you have viral pharyngitis is that it is often accompanied by other common symptoms.