The Centers for Disease Control’s updated recommendations for COVID-19 bring them in line with its advice for other kinds of respiratory infections, including influenza and RSV. The CDC now recommends that all people use core prevention strategies to protect themselves and others from all respiratory infections. These include:
- Stay up to date with immunizations
- Practice good hygiene (practices that improve cleanliness)
- Seek health care promptly for testing and/or treatment if you have risk factors for severe illness; treatment may help lower your risk of severe illness
- When an individual is diagnosed with a respiratory virus or if they have respiratory virus symptoms (fever, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose, and headache) that aren't better explained by another cause, they should use the precautions below to prevent spread.
The College no longer requires an employee to report a positive COVID result to Human Resources.
When You're Sick
When someone has a respiratory virus (COVID-19, influenza, and RSV), they should stay home and away from others. Students may get to-go meals from the dining hall but MUST be masked when doing so. Normal activities (work, school) can resume when both of the following are true:
- They have been fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours, and
- Their symptoms have been improving for 24 hours.
When individuals go back to normal activities, they are likely to be less contagious, but may still be able to spread the virus that made them sick. Individuals MUST take added precautions for the next 5 days, such as extra attention to hygiene and handwashing, masking around others, and physical distancing indoors.
If a person develops a fever or starts to feel worse after they have gone back to normal activities, they should stay home and away from others again until they’ve been fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours and their symptoms have been improving for 24 hours.