LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – If your result is positive for COVID-19, the amount of time you will be asked to isolate may vary. One of the most important factors is whether or not you are showing symptoms of the virus.
People from various local health departments tell WKYT that they all had a similar process when someone tested positive for COVID-19.
That includes reaching the infected, to see if anyone else might need to be quarantined.
“Contact tracking has been used for many years,” said Cassie Prather of the Woodford County Health Department. “This is nothing new. But for some reason Covid just took a different turn. That is very unfortunate, but we use the same methods to control communicable diseases. With HIV, measles, tuberculosis.”
That includes contacts made in the days leading up to the positive test, or showing symptoms, when perhaps they didn’t even know they were infecting others.
“There are a lot of things we don’t know about this virus,” said Jennifer Burchett of the Clark County Department of Health. “However, we know that there is an asymptomatic spread, in other words, someone who has no symptoms can spread it in the community and not realize it.”
Kelvin Hernández is going through that isolation process a second time. He has tested positive for COVID-19 twice and says the health department has kept in touch while he recovers.
She also says that keeping in touch with her friends and family has been a great help.
“You feel so far from everyone,” said Hernández. “The whole world. So it is really important that everyone has a strong support system, practically in an obvious way.”
The state has guidelines, but individual departments may have their own policies.
They say they use the same formula to determine how long a positive person needs to be isolated.
At least ten days from the onset of symptoms or ten days from the time the test was administered.
But you must also meet certain criteria at the end of your isolation.
“It used to be 72 hours after they had no symptoms, but now the CDC has changed it to 24 hours,” said Jessica Cobb of the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. “So things are continually changing and we try to make sure we have continuous updates with our staff and follow those different guidelines.”
With so much still unknown, they say it is not possible to be too cautious. They also know that those patterns could change again.
“The only thing that triumphs over science is better science,” said Prather. “And we are learning about this as we go along.”
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