How long have you been contagious with COVID-19?

New information about how COVID-19 behaves is constantly emerging, so we are learning more about how the virus spreads every day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is transmitted mainly by respiratory droplets from one person to another nearby, through speech, coughing or sneezing. Knowing when you are contagious can greatly reduce your risk of passing it on to others.

Even if you do not have or do not have any symptoms of the disease, such as fever, fatigue or shortness of breath, you can still spread COVID-19, according to the agency. However, although it is more likely to be transmitted when people are close, the CDC recognizes that the infectious virus can remain in the air or on surfaces, meaning that it can be inhaled even if an infected person has left the area. Less commonly, a person can become ill by touching a contaminated surface and then touching his mouth, nose or eyes.

According to Harvard Health Publishing, if you come into contact with the virus, it takes two to 14 days from the time you were exposed to COVID-19 to the time you developed the symptoms. During this incubation period, you can still transmit the virus to other people, experts say, and people are considered to be the most contagious 48 to 72 hours before they start showing symptoms, which is why public health officials recommend that everyone wear face masks and stay away from others.

Harvard experts warn that some people do not develop any symptoms and may be even more likely to spread the disease because they do not know they have COVID-19. Researcher Daniel Oran co-authored a study on the prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and found that 32% of cases in England and 33% in Spain were asymptomatic.

On the 10th day after the disappearance of the symptoms of COVID-19, people are believed to be no longer contagious, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Even those who are asymptomatic, but test positive for the virus, should not be infectious after this period, although there have been rare cases that contradict this.

“A full 14-day quarantine remains the best way to prevent the virus from spreading to others after being exposed to someone with COVID-19,” write Harvard experts, acknowledging that the CDC guidelines now say that you you can end your quarantine after 10 days if you have no symptoms, or after seven days if you have a negative COVID-19 test, two days before the quarantine ends.

The CDC also suggests that even if your test is negative for COVID-19, you should quarantine it if you have a date with someone who has the virus. “By quarantining it for 14 days, you reduce the chance of exposing other people to COVID-19,” says the agency.

Those who have been exposed to COVID-19 or tested positive should also be very careful to reduce the risk of transmission to family members.

Home may be where the heart is, but it is also the most likely place to spread COVID-19. The CDC released a report that concluded that “home transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is common and occurs soon after the onset of the disease”. The CDC warned that people should “isolate themselves immediately at the onset of COVID-like symptoms as a result of high-risk exposure, or at the time of a positive test result, whichever comes first.” The CDC added that all family members should wear masks in the infected individual’s shared spaces.

According to Eat This, Not That!, CDC researchers found that it took less than a week for one family member to transmit the virus to another, regardless of whether that individual was a child or an adult. According to CNN, the study, published in a recent CDC Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report, suggests that family members who believe they are infected should stay in a separate room and use their own bathroom, if possible.

The researchers noted that 53% of people who lived with someone with COVID-19 were infected, and 75% of these secondary infections occurred within a week, according to CNN.

Here are some tips on how to safely quarantine your home if someone develops COVID-19.

If you have ever had COVID-19, new data from a study of 11,000 healthcare professionals in the UK found that people who were infected with COVID-19 may have immunity to symptomatic infection for at least six months.

According to the Daily Mail, the researchers said, “We concluded that SARS-CoV-2 infection appears to result in protection against symptomatic infection in adults of working age, at least in the short term.”

A previous study by the Icahn School of Medicine on Mount Sinai found that 90% of people who recover from COVID-19 have immunity for at least five months. Professor Florian Krammer, an Icahn virologist who led the study team, said in a statement that “more than 90% of people who were mildly or moderately ill produce an antibody response strong enough to neutralize the virus, and the answer is maintained for several months, ”according to CNN.