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Why You Should Get a COVID-19 Test Now if You Have Doubts About Thanksgiving

December 01, 2020

If you believe your Thanksgiving celebration may have left you exposed to someone with COVID-19, now is the time to get tested.

According to Keith Grant, APRN, senior system director for infection prevention at Hartford HealthCare, you will get the most accurate results if you are tested four to five days after your potential exposure. The virus spends a few days incubating in the body, during which time you should quarantine away from others and watch for any symptoms such as fever, body aches, headache or gastrointestinal distress.

“You should start seeing positivity if you have been exposed within the first four to five days of exposure,” he said, adding that if the initial results are negative, you should also plan to be tested a second time 10 or 11 days after the potential exposure.

Another test at Day 14 would be ideal. Then, he said, a negative result can mean you were not infected.

“If you can only do one test, probably day four or five will give you your biggest yield and then keep monitoring (for symptoms),” Grant said.

With the results of a new study published in The Lancet showing that people with COVID-19 are the most infectious two days before they begin to show symptoms and five days afterward, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now looking at shortening the 14-day quarantine period it has recommended throughout the pandemic.

That new timeframe will reportedly be seven to 10 days, providing the person tests negative by the end of the quarantine period.