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Hi, I feel so silly for even asking this question but I had a terrible round of Covid in January 23. I'm a college teacher in Knox and Anderson Counties in Tennessee. My students are getting Covid after the Labor Day long weekend and I understand that hospitalizations and cases are up (end of summer surge). I'm desperate to keep my classes in person and off Zoom. I'm not immunocompromised or anything (46yo SWF, living at home) and neither are my parents (75-76). We are all vaccinated and up to date. My mom just returned from a trip from TN to Martha's Vineyard. She masked in planes and in the airports. She was away 3 days (Labor Day weekend). As far as we know, she and I are both negative, and yet I'm isolating from her because I don't want to get Covid in case she's got it and doesn't know it. Covid tests aren't free anymore, so we don't want to waste a test. I know, I must be crazy anxious, right? I am scared that if I stop masking outside my room I could catch Covid from her if she's got it and is asymptomatic. I can't find any information about what to do if someone travels while masked and returns home. I don't know if you are even answering these questions anymore, but I guess my question is how long should I be super careful around her? Thank you so much for reading, even if you are no longer writing back.
You are correct that there seems to be increasing numbers of Covid cases nationally. Testing is not being done routinely in most areas so the numbers of cases are not as exact. I believe you are taking the best step by remaining “conservative” with assuming that your mother may have been asymptomatically infected during her travel. So, I agree with your decsion to mask at home. You can probably resume a normal household by discontinuing masking after 1 week. Also, after this period and for the duration of the fall and winter, it isn’t wrong to give yourself the option to wear a mask whenever you are outside the home and plan to be in indoor public/shared spaces. Right now there is also an uptick in RSV (respiratory syncytical virus) cases and we are likely to see an increase in other respiratory viruses very soon with the cooling of the weather.There will be three vaccines available for your parents this fall: Covid, influenza, and RSV (newly licensed and approved for adults >64 years).
Vaccination and Masking are not your only defenses. You can improve the indoor air quality (e.g., of your home or classroom) by different methods. You can increase ventilation by opening a window (e.g., when the outside air is not too hot and humid) or by turning on air conditioning—this will move more air through your enclosed space. Second, you can improve air quality by using a HEPA air filter or a Corsi-Rosenthal box (CR box, a simple )—this will “clean” the air by filtering out infectious particles. A third and more expensive option is to improve air through sanitation of the air with ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection, but most of these fixtures must be directed toward the ceiling and not allowed to shine directly into the eyes, as UV light can be harmful to the eyes.
