By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – After testing positive for the novel Coronavirus, a Bloomington doctor says you may be back to work sooner than you think; that is if you are not working from home.
Speaking with WJBC’s Scott Miller, OSF General Surgeon Dr. Wieland says after showing symptoms or testing positive for COVID-19, individuals are no longer contagious after 10-days.
“Well, here’s the irony of that. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is sort of the final word on this for public health reasons and after 10-days from the onset of symptoms or in patients who are asymptomatic; 10-days from that first positive so if you are identified as positive through contact tracing. If you go that 10-days, there’s no research that shows any ability to spread the virus after that 10-day mark. If you are guaranteeing or isolating, there’s a 14-day timeline because that’s the maximum amount of time if you were going to develop symptoms that you would develop symptoms.”
Wieland says on average people show COVID-19 symptoms within 2-5 days.
“After they have had the Coronavirus, after that 10-day mark, they are not finding that those people are contagious anymore. So you can be a Corona positive; in fact, one of my friends went through this; she was positive and back to work in 10-days, but her husband was still isolating for a full 14 (days) and ultimately tested negative.”
LISTEN: OSF St. Joseph Medical Center general surgeon Dr. Wieland spoke with WJBC’s Scott Miller about what happens after you test positive for COVID-19.
The CDC says people who test positive for COVID-19 should isolate for at least 10-days and a whole day after their fever subsides without using fever-reducing medications to go back to work.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
