What To Do If You Test Positive For The Coronavirus This Winter

Dr. Kristen Kendrick walks us through what to do if and when we test positive for COVID-19 or develop mild symptoms. How long must we isolate at home? What about our housemates? How do keep the food coming? When can we go outside again?

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As the cooler weather takes hold, a viral pandemic is blanketing the U.S. with infection rates like we’ve never seen.

As of early December, there are more than 200,000 new U.S. cases reported and more than 1,800 deaths from COVID-19 on average every day. And although we know this illness is dangerous, the hospitalization rate is about 243 hospital stays per 100,000 infections, which means masses of people are having to manage less severe cases at home, too.

Patients are facing time alone with a notoriously unpredictable virus — and that can feel scary, confusing and overwhelming. Those are all sentiments I’ve heard a lot in my own practice as a family doctor lately.