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If you have been diagnosed with a COVID-19 infection, please follow the steps below to help prevent the disease from spreading to people in your home and community.

• STAY HOME EXCEPT TO GET MEDICAL CARE
  People who are mildly ill with COVID-19 can isolate at home during their illness. It is very important for you to monitor your health at home for worsening symptoms so that you can be taken care of and treated quickly if needed. You should restrict activities outside your home, except for getting medical care. Do not go to work, school, or public areas. Avoid using public transportation, ridesharing, or taxis. If you have a medical appointment, call the health care provider and tell them that you have or may have COVID-19.Seek outpatient therapies that prevent serious illness/death if you are a high-risk patient, including:
  • Individuals age 65 and older
  • Individuals age 55 and older with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Individuals age 12 and older with body mass index (BMI) >35 (moderate obesity), chronic kidney disease, diabetes, or immunosuppressed
  • Individuals age 12-17 with obesity/overweight, sickle cell disease, heart disease, g-tube/tracheostomy or other technologic dependence, asthma or other chronic lung disease requiring daily controller medication

  If you think you may meet one of these criteria for being a high-risk patient, please contact your healthcare provider’s office for more information and a possible referral to a COVID-19 outpatient infusion center near you. If you received antibody therapy for COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccination should be deferred for at least 90 days to avoid interference of the treatment with vaccine-induced immune responses.

  REMEMBER: some of these medications have the best effect if given shortly after your diagnosis, before you have symptoms and/or require hospitalization, therefore please make this call immediately after receiving your positive test result.

• Separate yourself from others in your home & practice healthy habits

  As much as possible, you should stay in a specific room and away from other people in your home. More detailed guidance from CDC is available, see Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Homes and Residential Communities. This guidance also provides information regarding preventative steps for household members, intimate partners, and caregivers in a non-healthcare setting of a person with COVID-19 infection.

DISCONTINUING HOME ISOLATION

You need to remain at home until 10 DAYS have passed since your symptoms began AND your are fever free (<100.4F) for 24 hours without use of fever-reducing medications AND symptoms are improving.

Asymptomatic individuals must remain home until 10 days have passed since their specimen collection date, if they are asymptomatic for the duration of their isolation.

It is not recommended you retest for COVID-19 within 90 days from your illness onset if you remain asymptomatic; test results during this time may remain residually positive. If you do become ill again, consult with your healthcare provider regarding your illness. If you would be exposed to COVID-19 again within 90 days of your illness onset, it is not recommended to quarantine for those exposures.

You should wait until your isolation is over before receiving the COVID-19 vaccine; if you received monoclonal antibody therapy for COVID-19, you should wait 90 days before receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

After you are vaccinated, you are exempted from quarantine if you meet ALL the following criteria:

Are fully vaccinated (i.e. ≥ 2 weeks following receipt of the second dose in a 2-dose series, or ≥ 2 weeks following receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine).

Have remained asymptomatic since the current COVID-19 exposure.

The CDC recommends that fully vaccinated individuals who remain symptom-free do not need to quarantine but should get tested for COVID-19 3-5 days following an exposure and in accordance with the TMBCI Mandate – Resolution TMBC741-08-21 – everyone is required to wear a mask in public indoor settings for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result.

YOU ARE A CLOSE CONTACT TO A COVID-19 CASE, NOW WHAT?

This guidance is for people who were identified as a Close Contact to a COVID-19 positive individual. This is defined as someone within 6 feet for 15 cumulative minutes or more in a 24-hour period while the case is deemed to be infectious (48 hours prior to their onset of symptoms; for asymptomatic cases, 48 hours prior to the date they were tested.)

Monitoring Period

Remain at home or in a comparable setting for the duration of your quarantine period. Avoid congregate settings, public activities, and practice social distancing. This means you should remain out of public places
where close contact with others may occur (e.g., shopping centers, movie theaters, stadiums), workplaces, schools and other classroom settings, and public conveyances (e.g., bus, subway, taxi, side share) for the duration of your monitoring period.

You are recommended to monitor yourself for symptoms for 14 days following your last potential exposure to a person with COVID-19. This does NOT mean that you will get sick with COVID-19. Household contacts to a confirmed COVID-19 case will need to monitor themselves and quarantine during the duration of the case’s infectious period AND for 14 days after the case is released from isolation.

There is an option for UNVACCINATED close contacts to reduce the number of days they will need to quarantine following an exposure to a COVID-positive individual.
• If you are tested and receive a negative result from a viral COVID-19 test (PCR), you can reduce your quarantine to seven days. This test must occur on day 5 or later from your last exposure date.
You must continue to quarantine while awaiting test results.

Vaccinated individuals can be exempt from quarantine and COVID-19 testing if:
o The individual is fully vaccinated for COVID-19 (i.e. ≥ 2 weeks following receipt of the second dose in a 2-dose series, or ≥ 2 weeks following receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine) AND
remains symptom-free following the exposure.

The CDC recommends that fully vaccinated individuals who remain symptom-free do not need to quarantine but should get tested for COVID-19 3-5 days following an exposure and are required to wear a mask in public indoor settings in accordance with the TMBCI Mask Mandate.

*Please note, if you are a household contact, your quarantine period will begin after the case is released from isolation.

After stopping quarantine, you should:

Watch for symptoms until 14 days after exposure.
• If you have symptoms, immediately self-isolate and contact your local public health authority or healthcare
provider.
• Wear a mask, stay at least 6 feet from others, wash your hands, avoid crowds, and take other steps to prevent the
spread of COVID-19.

Residents of long-term care facilities and other congregate living settings, and certain healthcare workers, are exempt from reduced quarantine guidance and should continue to quarantine for the full 14 days.
Consider being tested 7-10 days after your last exposure to a COVID-19 case, even if you do not have symptoms and plan to quarantine for the full 14-day period. Free public testing throughout North Dakota is available to
anyone who would like to be tested for COVID-19.

The CDC recommends that fully vaccinated individuals who remain symptom-free do not need to quarantine but should get tested for COVID-19 3-5 days following an exposure and in accordance with the TMBCI Mask Mandate – Resolution TMBC741-08-21- everyone is required to wear a mask in public indoor settings for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result.

Check  https://tmchippewa.com/covid-19-news-resources/ for a schedule of free testing sites, times and dates.

If you become sick and are tested for COVID-19 during this period and are found to be Positive. The TMBCI Contact Tracing Unit will work with you on continuing your monitoring as a confirmed case of COVID-19.

Individuals in your household that are contacts to contacts do not have to quarantine unless they have been notified that they are also a direct close contact to a confirmed case.

Check your temperature and symptoms

It is very important for you to monitor your health daily so that you can be taken care of and treated quickly if you get sick. Based on what is known from other coronavirus infections, 14 days is the longest time between when you were last exposed to COVID-19 and when symptoms begin.

• Take your temperature (use as directed in the thermometer instructions) 2 times a day:  once in the morning and again in the evening (if you forget, take your temperature as soon as you remember)
• You should also check your temperature anytime you feel like you have a fever or feel feverish.
• Write down your temperature twice a day, every day along with any of the symptoms listed below.

If you have fever (100.4°F or higher), cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms such as loss of taste/smell, chills, sore throat, body aches, headache, diarrhea, or nausea/vomiting, you should be tested for COVID-19.

What should I do if I become ill during this monitoring period?

If you must go to the hospital before calling, notify staff immediately that you are being monitored for COVID-19.

YOU ARE A HOUSEHOLD CONTACT TO A COVID-19 CASE, NOW WHAT?  

This guidance is for people who are identified as a Household Contact to COVID-19. This is defined as an individual that lives in the same house as a COVID-19 positive individual.

Signs and symptoms of COVID-19 The most common symptoms of novel coronavirus are fever and cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste/smell, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, diarrhea, and nausea/vomiting. These symptoms can also be due to many other illnesses. If you develop a fever or any symptoms, it doesn’t mean you have COVID-19, but you should immediately contact your health care provider for COVID-19 testing.

Monitoring Period

Avoid congregate settings, public activities, and practice social distancing during your quarantine period.

This means you should remain out of public places where close contact with others may occur (e.g., shopping centers, movie theaters, stadiums), workplaces, schools and other classroom settings, and public conveyances (e.g., bus, subway, taxi, side share) for the duration of your quarantine period unless approved by the state or local health department.

Household contacts to a confirmed COVID-19 case will need to monitor themselves and quarantine during the duration of the case’s infectious period AND for 14 days after the case is released from isolation. There are options for household contacts to reduce the number of days they will need to quarantine following an exposure to a COVID-positive individual.

• If you are tested and receive a negative result from a viral COVID-19 test (PCR), you can reduce your quarantine time after the case is released from isolation. This test must occur on day 5 or later from your last exposure date. You must continue to quarantine while awaiting test results.

Fully vaccinated individuals can be exempt from quarantine and COVID-19 testing if:

• The individual is fully-vaccinated for COVID-19 (i.e. ≥ 2 weeks following receipt of the second dose in a 2-dose series, or ≥ 2 weeks following receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine) AND remains symptom-free following the exposure.

After stopping quarantine, you should:

• Watch for symptoms until 14 days after exposure.
• If you have symptoms, immediately self-isolate and contact your local public health authority or healthcare provider.

Wear a mask, stay at least 6 feet from others, wash your hands, avoid crowds, and take other steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

If you become sick and are tested for COVID-19 during this period and are found to be Positive, then your isolation period will start. You will be released from isolation after ten days have passed since your symptoms began AND you are fever free (<100.4⁰F) for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications AND symptoms are improving. The TMBCI Contact Tracing Unit will work with you on continuing your monitoring as a confirmed case of COVID-19. Even if you do not develop symptoms, you should get tested because you are a household contact to a COVID-19 case. Ideally, this should occur 5-7 days after your last known exposure. If you are found to be Negative, you will still need to fulfill your recommended monitoring and quarantine period, as it can take up to 14 days to develop COVID-19. Any time a new household member gets sick with COVID-19 and you had close contact, you will need to restart your quarantine

Check your temperature and symptoms

It is very important for you to monitor your health daily so that you can be taken care of and treated quickly if you get sick. Based on what is known from other coronavirus infections, 14 days is the longest time between when you were last exposed to COVID-19 and when symptoms begin.

• Take your temperature (use as directed in the thermometer instructions) 2 times a day: once in the morning and again in the evening (if you forget, take your temperature as soon as you remember)
• You should also check your temperature anytime you feel like you have a fever or feel feverish.
• Write down your temperature twice a day, every day along with any of the symptoms listed below.

If you have fever (100.4F or higher), cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms such as loss of taste/smell, chills, sore throat, body aches, headache, diarrhea, or nausea/vomiting, you should be tested for COVID-19.

The CDC recommends that fully vaccinated individuals who remain symptom-free do not need to quarantine but should get tested for COVID   5 days following an exposure and in accordance with the TMBCI Mask Mandate – Resolution TMBC741-08-21- everyone is required to wear a mask in public indoor settings.

Check  https://tmchippewa.com/covid-19-news-resources/ for a schedule of free testing sites, times and dates.

What should I do if I become ill during this monitoring period?

Unless it is an emergency, DO NOT GO to a clinic or hospital without first calling ahead. Calling first will help the clinic or hospital prepare to greet you and take care of you in the safest possible way. If you must go to the
hospital before calling, notify staff immediately that you are being monitored for COVID-19.

If you become ill and test negative at any time during your monitoring period, you still need to complete your quarantine period.

You may remain in your usual home setting while monitoring yourself for COVID-19. If possible, avoid sharing a bathroom with other members of the household. Also be sure not to share drinks or utensils. Wash your hands
often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.