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How many days after I've been covid positive is it safe for me to exit my isolation? Because I've heard that you can test positive for months without being contagious.
The CDC’s guidance is a minimum of 5 days of strict isolation, then for another 5 days you “may” leave the home BUT MUST wear a good mask (i.e., a KN95 mask or better). However, especially with the more recent Omicron sublineage viruses, some people may have more prolonged shedding of live viruses (i.e., some people may shed live viruses for >10 days). So, I advocate for performing a rapid antigen test at least after 5 days of isolation and if this is negative and you are symptom free for at least 24 hours then you “can” leave the home, but I also still recommend that you wear a mask. I would not perform a test until after at least 5 days of isolation and 24 hours from when symptoms have resolved, whichever comes last. If you test positive with the rapid antigen test then stay in isolation for another 5 days and then re-test again.
Persons who have tested positive for >4 weeks are persons who are immunocompromised and/or are using the PCR test. The PCR test is very sensitive and may be positive by picking up just parts of the virus (i.e., “dead” virus pieces); so I would not use a PCR test to determine when you can come out from isolation.
