Can warmth harm at-home assessments?
Excessive warmth can mess with assessments. According to the F.D.A., at-home assessments work greatest once you use them in an surroundings that’s between roughly 59 to 86 levels Fahrenheit. If a check is delivered to you on a sweltering day, for instance, the company recommends bringing the package deal inside and ready not less than two hours earlier than opening it. And at all times make certain the management line — which generally seems subsequent to the “C” — reveals up once you use a speedy check; in any other case, the check could also be broken or defective.
I used to be uncovered. When do I check?
When you’ve got Covid signs and somebody you had been spending time with is now optimistic, check instantly. Signs can embody a runny or stuffy nostril, fatigue, complications, mind fog, sneezing or coughing, mentioned Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious illness specialist on the College of California, San Francisco.
If you happen to have been uncovered to Covid and don’t have signs, the F.D.A. says to attend not less than 5 days earlier than testing as a result of swabbing too early may give you a false damaging. You must isolate as a lot as you’ll be able to whereas ready, and wear a mask if you find yourself round different individuals.
If it’s important to spend time with somebody who’s immunocompromised or in any other case extra susceptible to the virus, like an older relative, contemplate testing earlier than coming into contact with them, Dr. Sala mentioned. Whereas signs are a superb indicator that you’ve got Covid, there are nonetheless giant swaths of people that get contaminated and by no means present any indicators, he added.
The extra immunity you’ve constructed up, the extra delicate the signs typically are, Dr. Chin-Hong mentioned.
Signs additionally may come on sooner for individuals who have been vaccinated and beforehand contaminated, mentioned Dr. Michael Mina, a former Harvard epidemiologist who’s now the chief science officer for eMed, a telehealth firm. “Particularly individuals who have been not too long ago boosted,” he mentioned, “in the event that they get contaminated, they may turn into symptomatic 24 hours post-exposure, 48 hours post-exposure — actually quick.”