COVID-19 Isolation and Quarantine

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Contact tracing includes public health tools known as isolation and quarantine, which differ from one another. Isolation is used for individuals who have been infected with COVID-19, even if they don’t have symptoms. Quarantine is used for individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19 through close contact.

Isolation is separating people who have COVID-19 or symptoms of COVID-19 from those who are not infected or showing symptoms in order to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. You isolate when you show symptoms of COVID-19 or are infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, even if you don’t have symptoms.

Quarantine is used by someone who has been exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19 through close contact, but has not tested positive for COVID-19 and does not have symptoms. Quarantine is important because even before a person has tested positive for COVID-19 or has symptoms, they could spread the virus that causes COVID-19 to other people without knowing. Quarantine is used to prevent transmission of the virus by ensuring that people who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 stay apart from others.

While contact tracing can be effective at certain times and/or in certain settings, when levels of community transmission are significant, its effectiveness as a mitigation tool decreases.

Montgomery County Public Health Services follows Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) contact tracing guidance during times of high burden, which calls for prioritizing case investigations to focus on those who tested positive most recently. Contact elicitation and notification focus on household contacts and sensitive settings. Taken together, this means you may not get a call from a county or state contact tracer. Instead, take the actions described below, depending on your particular circumstance.

• If you are experiencing one or more symptoms of COVID-19, follow these steps and get tested for COVID-19.
  • If you self-test at home, do so in a separate room from others and take these three key actions while waiting for your result.
  • If you test elsewhere, go home and self-isolate within your home. Take these three key actions while waiting for your result.
  • Follow these instructions from the CDC.
  • If you test positive, follow the steps described below.
• If you receive a positive COVID-19 test result, regardless of your vaccination status, follow these steps:
  • If you performed a self-test at home, REPORT YOUR POSITIVE RESULT to MCPH. Results from tests performed at a pharmacy or laboratory are automatically reported to MCPH, though it may take several days and be received after you are notified.
  • Isolate
    • Isolate for 5 complete days.
      • See How to Isolate.
      • Day 1 of isolation begins the day after you became symptomatic OR the day after your specimen was collected, if you do/did not have symptoms.
    • You may leave your isolation:
      • After 5 complete days, if you’ve continued to have no symptoms.
      • After 5 complete days, if your symptoms are resolving and you do not have a fever for at least 24 hours, without using fever-reducing medications.
        • If you have a fever, continue to stay home until your fever has resolved for 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing medications.
      • After leaving your isolation, you must continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days. Wearing a well-fitting mask following isolation will decrease the small risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to others. Respirators (e.g., N95s) are a useful option for personal protective equipment to protect people from exposures in specific settings.
    • If needed, obtain an AFFIRMATION OF ISOLATION, which may be used as if it was an individual Order for Isolation issued by the Montgomery County Director of Public Health. Montgomery County Public Health Services may contact you for additional information, if needed.
    • If needed, obtain an AFFIRMATION OF COMPLETION OF ISOLATION, when you have met the criteria for release from isolation, which may be used as if it was a Release From Isolation Order issued by the Montgomery County Director of Public Health. Montgomery County Public Health Services may contact you for additional information, if needed.
    • Notify your close contacts, who should self-quarantine (see quarantine section below).
  • If you had close contact with someone that tested positive for COVID-19, but do not have symptoms and
    • Have received your booster vaccination OR
    • Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine within the last 6 months OR
    • Completed the primary series of J&J vaccine within the last 2 months:

    You do not need to quarantine, but you should wear a mask around others for 10 days. You should also get tested on day 5, if possible. Day 1 is the day after your last day of exposure to the COVID-19 positive person.

    If you develop symptoms, get a test, go home, and follow the instructions earlier in this webpage in the section “If you are experiencing one or more symptoms of COVID-19, follow these steps and get tested for COVID-19”..