Covid: once positive, when can I leave the house?

This is the question that still many are asking in our country. Despite the Circular of the Ministry of Health that deals with it dates back to 12 October 2020, there is still confusion both on the terms (what is isolation, what is quarantine), and on the times in which it is possible to return to community, that is, when I can leave the house.

We repeat once again that:

• l’isolation it is when a person has tested positive for a throat swab. In this case it is necessary to isolate oneself from the community for the duration of the period of contagiousness. If you live alone, you have to stay in your apartment without going out for any reason. If you live with other people, you must also isolate yourself from the rest of the family group. You have to stay in a room, trying to have as little contact as possible with the rest of the family. The use of masks and all precautions to prevent other people living in the same house from becoming infected are mandatory.
• The quarantine instead it indicates when a person without symptoms and without having had a throat swab stays at home for the duration of the incubation period, after which they have had contact with a positive person. The principle is that of the utmost caution, both for the person who enters quarantine and for his eventual contacts. If symptoms appear, you should contact your family doctor immediately. Ten days after contact with a positive one can be subjected to a swab. If it is negative, it can exit. Or he waits 14 days from contact with a positive and if he has no symptoms he can return to the community.

When can I go out: asymptomatic positive cases

Those who, even without symptoms, have tested positive for a pharyngeal gold swab can leave the house after a period of isolation of at least 10 days from the discovery of positivity. At the end of these ten he will undergo a tampon. If the result is negative, he can leave the house. If you test positive for the control swab, you will need to continue isolation and have a swab again after 7 days. If it is still positive, the isolation still ends 21 days after the first swab is performed.

When can I go out: symptomatic positive cases

On the other hand, those who tested positive for the swab and had symptoms will be able to leave the house if, after a period of isolation of at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms, they test negative to a molecular test, performed after at least 3 days without symptoms. So to understand, ten days of isolation, of which at least three days without symptoms, negative molecular test. In this case the quarantine is interrupted and the person can leave the house.

If the swab fails, the test can be repeated after 7 days. If still positive, the isolation ends at 21 days after the first swab is performed, after at least a week without symptoms. The territorial health authority issues a certificate that automatically accompanies the report of the swab which indicates the so-called default period of 21 days. In practice, this certificate sets the end date of isolation.

Symptoms are not calculated ageusia, that is the loss of the sense of taste, nor anosmia, that is, the loss of the sense of smell, because they can last a long time even after healing.

Immunosuppressed or those who have been hospitalized in intensive care

The discussion changes whether the person who tested positive for the molecular test is an immunosuppressed person or has come out of intensive care. In these cases, it is the territorial health authority that takes care of carrying out additional examinations to certify the healing.

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