Date: | 12/07/2020 |
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Organization: | Department of Public Health |
Referenced Sources: | Information and Guidance for Persons in Isolation due to COVID-19 |
You are required to isolate (separate yourself) from other people because you have been diagnosed as a confirmed case of infection with 2019 Novel (new) Coronavirus (COVID-19) or because you had a high-risk exposure to COVID-19 and now have symptoms.
COVID-19 is caused by a virus. It is spread through respiratory secretions (mucous and droplets from coughs and sneezes from an infected person and can cause serious illness such as pneumonia (lung infection), and in some rare cases, death.
You must remain in isolation until a public health authority (the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, your local Board of Health or the Community Tracing Collaborative) tells you can leave your home. A public health authority will be in contact with you daily and will conduct another assessment approximately 10 days after the date your infection is confirmed. A public health authority will confirm that you may leave your home once the risk of infecting others is determined to be low.
During the isolation period, you may not have visitors in the location where you are isolating. If you must share living quarters with another person, then that person will be subject to quarantine. If someone in your home is a young child, pregnant, immunocompromised, or has a chronic heart, liver, lung, or kidney condition, or is over 65 years of age, that person is at particular risk if they have contact with you during isolation. If anyone you have contact with fits this description, please discuss this with your local board of health or the Massachusetts Department of Public Health so that steps may be taken to protect these individuals.
A public health authority will work with you to identify anybody, including household members, who are considered to have been exposed and will make required quarantine recommendations.
This information sheet provides you with information about what to do and not to do while you are in isolation. If you have questions after reading this, you can call your local Board of Health, or the Massachusetts Department of Public Health which is available 24/7 at 617-983-6800.