ELI5: what happens if you're identified as a contact of a COVID+ person?
October 17, 2021 12:20 PM Subscribe
Asking for a friend - my friend (Person A) recently discovered that their friend (Person B) received a positive COVID-19 test and identified Person A as a recent close contact to the state's contact tracing program. (This is in Rhode Island.) How long does Person A have to get a COVID-19 test? Will the state contact Person A? (They haven't yet.) Person A and I are both fortunate that this hasn't happened to them yet since the pandemic began, so we have no personal experience. Thank you!
How long does Person A have to get a COVID-19 test?
Per the CDC Quarantine and Isolation page, fully vaccinated people should get tested 3-5 days after their exposure:
Per the CDC Quarantine and Isolation page, fully vaccinated people should get tested 3-5 days after their exposure:
Quarantine if you have been in close contact (within 6 feet of someone for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period) with someone who has COVID-19, unless you have been fully vaccinated. People who are fully vaccinated do NOT need to quarantine after contact with someone who had COVID-19 unless they have symptoms. However, fully vaccinated people should get tested 3-5 days after their exposure, even if they don’t have symptoms and wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until their test result is negative.posted by RichardP at 12:30 PM on October 17, 2021 [7 favorites]
I can't speak to your state personally, but my experience of this was that someone informed the entire cast on Facebook that my castmate had been diagnosed with it. I found this out on day 3, so I immediately ran to get tested, and then got tested again on day 5 and came back negative both times within 48 hours, per the CDC website. I was never contacted by any state or health authority, nor did that state notify app ever go off on my phone.
How long does Person A have to get a COVID-19 test?
Uh, I don't think there's a deadline on it. The recommendation is if you have symptoms, do it ASAP, if you don't, do it around days 3/4/5. But this is a pandemic: Always Be Testing.
Will the state contact Person A?
Who the hell knows. Maybe? There's no guarantee that will happen. I certainly didn't get a call in my state and I've never been notified by our state app. I've been told that supposedly you get a phone call if you're diagnosed, but that seems to be a maybe/maybe not thing in reality. Probably depends on short staffing or pandemic fatigue or whatever.
Frankly, Person B needs to do the work of contacting Person A on this, which it sounds like they did. Person B should not count on Persons A, C, D. etc. being notified anonymously by a third party. My impression is that contact tracing has pretty much fallen by the wayside as a thing that isn't really happening any more. Person A needs to take charge of their own life and assume they have to figure out how to handle things on their own. Person A needs to get tested on days 3-5 (approximately) after their in-person exposure to Person B. If they have no symptoms and test clear (har) after a Day 5 test, they are probably ok.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:44 PM on October 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
How long does Person A have to get a COVID-19 test?
Uh, I don't think there's a deadline on it. The recommendation is if you have symptoms, do it ASAP, if you don't, do it around days 3/4/5. But this is a pandemic: Always Be Testing.
Will the state contact Person A?
Who the hell knows. Maybe? There's no guarantee that will happen. I certainly didn't get a call in my state and I've never been notified by our state app. I've been told that supposedly you get a phone call if you're diagnosed, but that seems to be a maybe/maybe not thing in reality. Probably depends on short staffing or pandemic fatigue or whatever.
Frankly, Person B needs to do the work of contacting Person A on this, which it sounds like they did. Person B should not count on Persons A, C, D. etc. being notified anonymously by a third party. My impression is that contact tracing has pretty much fallen by the wayside as a thing that isn't really happening any more. Person A needs to take charge of their own life and assume they have to figure out how to handle things on their own. Person A needs to get tested on days 3-5 (approximately) after their in-person exposure to Person B. If they have no symptoms and test clear (har) after a Day 5 test, they are probably ok.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:44 PM on October 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
This happened to me in IL, in March of this year. I was contacted by a state contact tracer within a day, and was given a survey I had to complete every day for 14 days. They texted it to me daily at around the same time.
I got tested on day five and it was negative. Even with a negative test, the state said I should quarantine for the full 14 days. I got another test on day 14, just as insurance, and that came back positive. Ironically, the next morning I got my release note from quarantine. Two hours after getting that, I got a call from another state contact tracer and another note putting me in quarantine for an additional 10 days.
I'm not big on talking to customer service people on the phone, but the contact tracers were extremely friendly and knowledgeable, and it really helped that I got the same case manager for the duration of each quarantine, so anytime I had a question I could call the number back and be connected to the person I had talked with previously. I was really impressed.
If Person A is not vaccinated, I highly, highly recommend they quarantine the full 14 days. I had no symptoms, and was very surprised to test positive on day 14, but sometimes that's how long it takes for the virus to build up enough to be detectable. That's why the quarantine is 14 days.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 9:22 AM on October 18, 2021
I got tested on day five and it was negative. Even with a negative test, the state said I should quarantine for the full 14 days. I got another test on day 14, just as insurance, and that came back positive. Ironically, the next morning I got my release note from quarantine. Two hours after getting that, I got a call from another state contact tracer and another note putting me in quarantine for an additional 10 days.
I'm not big on talking to customer service people on the phone, but the contact tracers were extremely friendly and knowledgeable, and it really helped that I got the same case manager for the duration of each quarantine, so anytime I had a question I could call the number back and be connected to the person I had talked with previously. I was really impressed.
If Person A is not vaccinated, I highly, highly recommend they quarantine the full 14 days. I had no symptoms, and was very surprised to test positive on day 14, but sometimes that's how long it takes for the virus to build up enough to be detectable. That's why the quarantine is 14 days.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 9:22 AM on October 18, 2021
This thread is closed to new comments.
But if Person A has not yet gotten a call (even though they have been identified to the state), when should they get tested? Would they have to get retested? They are fully vaccinated if it matters.
posted by Seeking Direction at 12:25 PM on October 17, 2021