Testing Positive for COVID-19: Next Steps
Stay home except to get medical care
Stay home. Most people with COVID-19 have mild illness and can recover at home without medical care. Do not leave your home, except to get medical care. Do not visit public areas.
Self-isolation means separating yourself from others to keep your germs from spreading.
If you have questions about isolation or quarantine, you can call your Local Board of Health or the Department of Public Health’s On-call Epidemiologists at 617-983-6800.
Monitor your symptoms
Follow the advice of your doctor or local health department. If you feel like you need medical care, call ahead before visiting your doctor.
Look for emergency warning signs* for COVID-19. If someone is showing any of these signs, call 9-1-1 to seek emergency medical care immediately:
Trouble breathing
Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
New confusion
Inability to wake or stay awake
Bluish lips or face
*This list is not all possible symptoms. Please call your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you.
Notify your close contacts
Call your close contacts to notify them of your positive result if you are comfortable doing so
Suggest that they isolate until they can get tested, even if they are asymptomatic
Encourage them to get tested at a COVID-19 Testing Site
A close contact is someone with whom you have been within 6 feet of for at least 10-15 minutes while symptomatic or within 48 hours before symptom onset. A close contact can also be someone who had direct contact with the droplets of a COVID-19 case (e.g., being coughed on) while not wearing a mask or face covering.
Answer the call from contact tracers
You may get a call from a contact tracer with your local Board of Health or the MA COVID Team. Answer the call so they can reach out to people who have been in close contact with you and provide them with resources. It’s the best way to protect your family, friends and community.
The phone calls may indicate the call is from your local Board of Health or will use the prefix 833 and 857 and your phone will say the call is from “MA COVID Team.”