The Tompkins County Health Department is alerting the community that COVID-19 isolation guidance continues to be for the full 10 days. TCHD is awaiting further New York State Department of Health guidance related to the updated federal CDC recommended reductions in isolation and quarantine timeframes to five days and will communicate any local changes as soon as they are made.
Tompkins County Public Health Director Frank Kruppa stated, “As the pandemic progresses and more information becomes available, the CDC has updated guidance about when people are considered to be most infectious. The CDC reports positive individuals are most infectious early, usually 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and 2-3 days after symptoms develop. Adhering to strict masking for the next five days after exiting quarantine or isolation will still be important – an individual may be positive, but less likely to spread the disease to another person while they are masked.”
If you receive a positive test result for COVID-19 (ISOLATE):
- Regardless of vaccination status, isolate immediately from others in your household.
- Isolation guidance continues to be to isolate from others for 10 days from the positive test result or the onset of symptoms, whichever occurs first.
- For more information on TCHD’s current guidance for isolation, see the website.
- For individuals who receive a positive test result through a self-test, isolate immediately, complete a Self-Test report and follow instructions on the Self-Test webpage.
If you are identified as a close contact because you were exposed to someone with COVID-19 (QUARANTINE):
- Quarantine guidance continues to be for 10 days following the last day of potential exposure to a positive case.
- An individual in quarantine should maintain distance from others in their household and monitor themselves for symptoms.
- Individuals who are fully vaccinated and do not have any symptoms do not need to quarantine. For more information, see the website.
- For more information on current guidance for quarantine, see the website.
Tompkins County has received a supply of KN95 masks that are being distributed through non-profit community partners. At this time, the county has not received any self-test kits from NYS. If free test kits are received, a similar plan using non-profit community partners will be implemented for distribution to individuals who may not be able to afford purchasing the kits through pharmacies.
The Tompkins County Health Department is your partner for a healthy community. Find us online at TompkinsCountyNY.gov/health and follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/TompkinsPublicHealth and on Twitter at @TompkinsHealth. Sign up to receive COVID-19 updates or other county announcements via email.
