How to Self-Monitor for COVID-19

If you’ve been around someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or have spent time with individuals outside your immediate household, it’s important to begin closely monitoring your overall health for COVID-19 symptoms. If you have been exposed to someone with a confirmed COVID-19 case, you’ll also want to quarantine for 14 days, separating yourself from members in your household and the outside world. This is guidance recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as COVID-19 symptoms can appear up to 14 days after exposure. After that two-week period, if you have not experienced any COVID-19 symptoms, you can end your quarantine and carry on as normal.

Monitoring Your Health During Quarantine

While you are quarantining, you should stay in a separate room in your home and nobody in your household should visit you. Stay away from all public places, including public transportation, and do not share food, drinks, utensils, or cups with anyone. As you are quarantining, you will need to monitor your health for COVID-19 symptoms. Here’s what you should do:

• Take your temperature every day, once in the morning and once in the evening—a temperature above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit is considered a fever, as recognized by the CDC.
• Pay close attention to any symptoms you’re experiencing: Cough and shortness of breath are two of the most commonly reported symptoms aside from fever. Other symptoms include loss of smell or taste, sore throat, runny nose or congestion, fatigue, body aches, and headache.
• Keep a log of your health throughout the quarantine period, including your twice-daily temperature checks and any other symptoms you’re experiencing.

What to Do If You Have a Fever or Other COVID-19 Symptoms While Quarantining

If you’re experiencing mild COVID-19 symptoms, you may be able to recover at home. Read our recent blog post on when to go to the Emergency Department for COVID-19 symptoms. You’ll need to continue quarantining until the following three conditions are met:

• It has been 10 days since symptoms appeared.
• You have been fever-free for 24 hours (without the aid of fever-reducing medication).
• You’ve seen an improvement in any other symptoms of COVID-19.

Those with severe COVID-19 symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, chest pain, inability to wake, confusion, or bluish lips or face, should seek immediate medical attention by calling 911 or going to their nearest hospital.

COVID-19 Testing at PhysicianOne Urgent Care

Quarantining for 14 days isn’t possible for many people, especially those who work with the public or have children at home. This is why PhysicianOne Urgent Care offers COVID-19 testing for individuals with or without symptoms at all of our facilities in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. To expedite your test visit, we recommend starting with a virtual visit and your subsequent in-center test will be prioritized when you arrive at the center. We offer both rapid (antigen) tests and PCR tests at all locations.

Most patients receive their COVID-19 test results within five to seven days, although it can take longer during busy periods. What’s more, we offer rapid COVID-19 testing at all of our urgent care locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York that can provide same-day results.

If you have recently traveled out-of-state and have no known COVID-19 exposure or symptoms and want to be sure you were not infected during your trip, we offer Express COVID-19 (Rapid, PCR or both) testing for asymptomatic patients. Learn more here.