How long should I stay isolated after getting well?

I started feeling sick late on 3/26 or early on 3/27. I don't think I've even been exposed to covid yet, but my syptoms could be covid, cold, flu, alergies, stress, or maybe some other things I haven't thought of. I got better each day, and decided I was too well to call myself sick on 3/31. I want to do the responsible thing and not expose people if I'm contageous, but it sure would be handy to be able to go to town or church. I'm looking for some guidance on when I can responsibly be around (a few) people.

My symptoms were basically body aches and seemingly random swings between unable to stay awake and unable to sleep. I've also had dry mouth and been either too hot or too cold even in the same temperature room. I normally have those last two, so they may not be symptoms of my being sick. The other four people in the house have shown no symptoms. (Honestly, I was in a stressful situation and got worked up over stupid crap. I really suspect that's all this was.)

Stress and alergies aren't contageous. I'm pretty sure I read: for flu one week from last symptoms, for cold two weeks from exposure. I haven't really found anything helpful for covid. Does anyone have that info?

Better to assume you are one of the 80% who get mild to no symptoms.  Check with local health authority for guidelines in your area. If I were you, I would stay isolated a further two weeks.

I'm not up on my Covid symptoms but those don't sound particularly like Covid (dry cough and fever are the primary ones, I believe).  

Without a test there is no way to know, but I think it is safe to assume that no matter where you are, the virus is out there circulating and has been for some time (unless you're in a bunker somewhere).

Each place seems to have its own rules about what you should do. When I was ill a few weeks ago I found this, which states that you should stay at home until 7 days after your symptoms started (excluding cough). Your housemates, though, should isolate for another 14 days, as if you were infected they may be incubating.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

(you could have had another virus or this one. The UK NHS has an interesting graphic about how people are presenting different symptoms of mild infection. If it is not corona, great, but if it is and you had mild infection with only some symptoms, you could still infect other people, and better safe than sorry. Wearing a mask would help. It is really good of you to be thinking about this.)

Around 80% of people only get mildly sick if at all but they can still spread it. 20% get bad sick and need doctors or even hospitalization. It spreads by very small droplets, just in normal breath. If it continues to spread exponentially  about 65 million (20% of 330 million US)  will need health care all at the same time, effectively collapsing the health care system nation wide. A kid with a bad appendix will die because there is no one available that can prevent it.

It doesn't matter if you have it, or had it, sounds like you probably didn't but still... just stay home.

This may have been posted elsewhere here, but I don't know where. This is a "Table of Contents" for scientific comment on various aspects of the virus and news about it. There is  _lot_ of reading here and more is posted every day. Some of it is pretty dense - experts, you know. Best pick and choose as you can. But the info is probably as good as it gets anywhere.

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19/


Here is one of the entries dealing with exposure. I'm almost sure this has been posted somewhere else on permies, but the info is important and dense, so here it its again.

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-questions-about-covid-19-and-viral-load/



Rufus

Recommendation from the Hawaii Department of Health:

"Isolation should be maintained until at least 3 days (72 hours) after resolution of fever and myalgia without the use of antipyretics OR at least 7 days have passed since symptom onset, whichever is longer."

Mike Haasl wrote:I'm not up on my Covid symptoms but those don't sound particularly like Covid (dry cough and fever are the primary ones, I believe).  

But it does sound like there may have been fever. In my experience, the most common symptoms of fever are body aches (especially joints), fatigue, and alternating feeling hot and cold.

T Melville wrote:My symptoms were basically body aches and seemingly random swings between unable to stay awake and unable to sleep. I've also had dry mouth and been either too hot or too cold even in the same temperature room. I normally have those last two, so they may not be symptoms of my being sick.

As a Health System CEO, I work with this virus every day in California.
the symptoms which you stated could be Covid 19. and your actions have been good.  If your health department has the ability to assist, call them and ask their advice about getting tested or waiting longer to go out. Should you go out, wear a good face mask (home made is ok), that will lessen the likelihood of you spreading whatever virus you've had and maintain the 6 foot distance.
The problem is that a person with Covid 19 can move through the symptoms and still be able to spread it, hence contacting your health department for guidance and waiting for a longer period just to be sure.

Good health to you and your house mates, and yes they should do the same as you, because they do not know if they are carrying a virus.

We will all make it through this together.

Hi Su,

Thanks for the post.  I had run I to 30 days post symptoms , and I wasn't  buying it.

I just read on Saturday that we might have our first Covid 19 case in this county. They were retesting, since a false positive was suspected. Heard today that we now have seven cases. I guess what I had was something else.

imho there is no way of knowing without proper accurate testing, better to be safe than sorry, as we have all probably heard by now, some people get it and shed virus with no symptoms and people they interact with may end in hospital hooked up to all manners of life support and eventually die from it.