00:00The question that I have for you is how should people proceed if they've been exposed to someone who tested positive, but they're not experiencing symptoms?
00:07And how does that work with the COVID? I mean, the CDC's, you know, recommendations for isolation, which were at one point 10 days and then five days, you know, necessarily for different people.
00:18Yeah, I know that there's a lot of confusion about this and, you know, people have to understand that we're constantly, you know, reevaluating our guidelines because this is a moving target.
00:26And that, you know, coincides with the fact that we're now, you know, having to deal with Omicron, which is functioning a little bit different than prior variants.
00:34So at this point, what you should do is if you are fully vaccinated and boosted, that means you have the highest level of protection that we have available now.
00:44And you get, you know, COVID, then we're asking people to quarantine at home for a minimum of five days.
00:51And at five days, if you are symptom free or your symptoms are resolving, meaning you haven't had a fever for more than 24 hours, then it is okay for you to enter public and limited, you know, capacity just for essential things that you need to do.
01:04But you must wear a mask for an additional five days.
01:06Now, if you are not fully vaccinated, then, you know, that puts you at a higher degree of risk.
01:12And so that's why we're requiring people to, you know, potentially, you know, quarantine for a longer period of time, the minimum of the five days up to 10 days.
01:21Now, there are a lot of questions about, so what do I do if I'm exposed to somebody, which is what you asked, that has had COVID.
01:28And I had that exact scenario happen in my family, right?
01:31So I and my entire family tested positive about six days ago.
01:36And the day before that, I had my father and my aunt over to my house.
01:39So they had a known exposure.
01:41You're actually most contagious before you become infectious.
01:44So that's an important caveat you have to remember.
01:46So what I told my dad to do is that he should quarantine for five days from that period of exposure and then test.
01:53And it is best to get a PCR test because the rapid tests tend to not be as accurate when you're not symptomatic.
02:01And so I found him a place to do a drive-through test, which I think is the safest way to do testing so that you're not standing in line in close proximity to other people.
02:09And then at that day five, when he gets his test, if it's negative, then he can proceed as if he has not been infected.
02:15Now, I do know that for a lot of people, it is hard to get a test right now.
02:18So if you don't have access to the test, you still would want to just quarantine and isolate yourself for the five days from the exposure and then wear a mask for an additional five days.
02:27And that just is helping to prevent any potential exposure to other people in case you are infected and are having an asymptomatic infection.
02:36So I know this continues to be confusing.
02:38That's why I would just continue to go to the CDC website or ask your health care provider if you're not sure exactly what you should do in your specific scenario.
02:45But the best day, of course, is, you know, to remember, isolate for at least five days, test on day five if you can, and then mask for at least 10 days.
02:55Got you. And Dr. Sims-Macki, I know you wanted to briefly add to this.
03:00Yeah, I just wanted to briefly add as a primary care physician when we're talking.
03:04These are a lot of rules. We're learning new things every day.
03:07I know it's hard for people to keep up to what am I supposed to do.
03:11But I do want to emphasize we don't want to overwhelm our emergency rooms.
03:16So I really would suggest people, if they're not having severe symptoms, trouble breathing, or things that would require emergency room visit,
03:23to really contact their primary care physician to talk through all of these scenarios.
03:28Can you find a test? Can you not find a test?
03:31Do I need to go in? How long do I need to isolate?
03:34And a lot of this can be done.
03:35Thank goodness we have telehealth, you know, up and running now.
03:38A lot of this can be done over the phone with your physician.
03:41So we really want to save our emergency room for the patients who are severely ill and need to be there.
03:47Dr. Sudden, you know, what is symptomatic, to be symptomatic exactly?
03:52Like people are getting things that run the gamut, you know.
03:55And so when you have something, maybe whether it's a sniffle or your throat is bothering you,
04:00like at what point do we need to go to the emergency room and what point do we need to sit down and just kind of deal with it at home
04:06so that we're not, as Dr. Simpson, like he said, as well as Dr. Claiborne, you know,
04:11we're not overwhelming, you know, emergency rooms and spaces that are already stretched thin.
04:16That's a great question.
04:17You know, I meet patients every day that have a variety of symptoms secondary to COVID-19.
04:21So I'll say that there is no easy way to figure out whether or not you have COVID-19 or the flu or just the common cold.
04:29And right now in the setting of this high viral transmission within our communities,
04:32I always tell patients to act with the highest level of caution.
04:36If you have any new symptoms, a cough, sniffles, a fever, a diarrhea,
04:41these are all concerning signs and symptoms that you may have COVID-19.
04:45So I would act as if you do have it until proven otherwise with a really accurate test, like a PCR test.
04:51Or if you have availability, you can take a rapid antigen in the first couple of days of those symptoms,
04:56because that's when that rapid antigen would be the most accurate.
04:59For those patients who do test positive, I understand the fear,
05:03but I also want to advise that the majority of people who get this infection,
05:07especially regarding the Omicron variant,
05:09will be able to treat their symptoms from the comfort of their own couch.
05:12And if you feel like you can, I would advise to do just that.
05:15But of course, if you feel like you need the intervention of a medical provider like myself,
05:19then of course, come to the emergency room.
05:22And the most common thing that we see that we're mindful of is ER doctors and physicians
05:26when we're triaging patients.
05:28Secondary to COVID-19 is making sure that their respiratory status is okay.
05:31But again, if you feel like your symptoms are beyond what you can treat by yourself,
05:35of course, an emergency room is an appropriate place.
05:37But as was just stated, our volumes are incredibly high right now.
05:42Our wait times inside of these emergency rooms are astronomical,
05:45and we're trying our best to keep up, but it is incredibly difficult right now.
05:50And I'd just like to add as well that if you're having mild symptoms that are cold
05:55and it happens to not be COVID, when you come to the emergency department,
05:59there's a significant risk that you may get COVID.
06:01And one of the issues we're having in our ERs is our wait times are approaching 20 hours.
06:05And while we have people waiting out in their cars and we start trying to separate sick COVID
06:10symptoms from other patients, it is a very dangerous place to be and not somewhere I would
06:15want to be if I happen to be COVID negative.
06:18So I would encourage everyone to ask a healthcare provider if you have a teletriage or a nurse
06:25hotline or can call your primary care doctor and you're not sure if you need to be seen,
06:29ask someone before you go.
06:30Now, of course, if there is an emergency or feeling very short of breath or having chest
06:33pain, I completely agree.
06:35You need to show up to the ER and we will be happy to take care of you.
06:37But we're just cautioning everyone to not just come into the ER just because, because it's
06:42a possibility that if you were COVID negative, you will leave there COVID positive because
06:47of the number of people you'll be in contact with that are sick and waiting to be seen.
06:51We're just fine.
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