What steps can health care workers take to stay healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic?
The CDC recommends specific safety measures that health care professionals can take to minimize exposure to PUI and confirmed COVID-19 cases and prevent
the spread of infection within health care facilities. Read the full interim infection prevention and control recommendations.
What should physicians/health care professionals do when they have been exposed to COVID-19?
All health care professionals are at some risk for exposure to COVID-19, whether in the workplace or in the community. If you develop symptoms consistent
with COVID-19 (fever, cough, or difficulty breathing), do not report to work. If you have an unprotected exposure (i.e., not wearing recommended PPE) to a confirmed or possible COVID-19 patient, contact your supervisor or occupational health immediately.
The CDC has outlined risk exposure categories with monitoring recommendations based on the risk category. For more information, see the CDC’s Interim Guidance for Risk Assessment and Public Health Management of Healthcare Personnel with Potential Exposure in a Healthcare Setting to Patients with Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).
What is the difference between quarantine and isolation?
Isolation and quarantine are different. These two terms are not interchangeable. Isolation refers to the separation of sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick.
Quarantine refers to the separation of asymptomatic people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become ill. People who are having symptoms or are sick with possible or confirmed COVID-19 need to self-isolate at home: If you are sick,
stay home.
When can health care professionals return to work?
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has updated its return-to-work guidance. The guidance clarifies that certain sectors may continue to work during their quarantine period to preserve
critical societal functions. This is only allowed if the worker remains asymptomatic. These sectors include healthcare workers, first responders, and critical infrastructure workers, as defined by CDC.
What is the recommended period of quarantine?
MA has aligned its updated quarantine recommendations by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/scientific-brief-options-to-reduce-quarantine.html). The new guidance is based on recent CDC data showing that shortened quarantine periods result in only a small chance that someone may develop COVID-19 after leaving quarantine. The small risk that someone may develop COVID-19 after a shortened strict quarantine period is outweighed by the expected benefit of reduced transmission from the expected increased cooperation with adherence to the quarantine, according to the CDC.
- The majority of COVID-19 cases have incubation periods fewer than 10 days, although the possible incubation period is still 14 days. During the quarantine period, people must not have visitors in their homes and they cannot have contact with other people who live in their homes.
- The 14-day quarantine recommendation remains in place for any person experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms during the quarantine period, even if they have a negative test, and for those unwilling or unable to conduct active self-monitoring of symptoms.
- Under the new guidance, people who have no symptoms and have either a negative PCR or antigen test taken on Day 5 or later, can be released on Day 8 (following 7 days of quarantine).
- If the person does not have a test and does not have symptoms, they may be allowed to leave quarantine on Day 11 (following 10 days of quarantine).
- Under either option, the individual must conduct active monitoring of their symptoms through Day 14 and get tested and isolate if they develop any sign of disease.
- The guidance for a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 has not changed, which means they should stay in self-isolation for 10 days. They can resume public activities after the 10 days as long as they have gone for 24 hours without a fever and without taking fever-reducing medications like Tylenol and have experienced improvement in other symptoms, such as a cough that has gotten much better.
