How long have you been infected with COVID-19?

New information about how COVID-19 behaves is constantly appearing, so we learn more about how the virus spreads every day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is transmitted mainly by respiratory drops from person to person in the immediate vicinity through speech, coughing or sneezing. Knowing when you are contagious can greatly reduce the risk of transmission to others.

Even if you do not have or do not have any symptoms of the disease, such as fever, fatigue or difficulty breathing, you can spread COVID-19, according to the agency. However, although it is most likely transmitted when people are in the immediate vicinity, the CDC recognizes that the infectious virus can remain in the air or on surfaces, which means it can be inhaled even if an infected person has left the area. Rarely, a person can get sick by touching a contaminated surface and then touching his mouth, nose or eyes.

According to Harvard Health Publishing, if you come in contact with the virus, it takes two to 14 days from the time you were exposed to COVID-19 until your symptoms develop. During this incubation period, you can transmit the virus to others, experts say, and people are considered to be the most contagious 48 to 72 hours before they begin to show symptoms, which is why public health officials urge everyone to he wears face masks and away from others.

Harvard experts warn that some people have no symptoms at all and may be even more likely to spread the disease because they do not know they have COVID-19. Researcher Daniel Oran co-authored a study on the prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and found that 32% of cases in England and 33% in Spain were asymptomatic.

By the 10th day after the disappearance of COVID-19 symptoms, it is believed that humans are no longer contagious, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Even those who are asymptomatic but test positive for the virus should not be infectious after this time, although there have been rare cases that contradict this.

“A full 14-day quarantine remains the best way to prevent the virus from spreading to others after you have been exposed to COVID-19,” write Harvard experts, acknowledging that CDC guidelines now say you can end your quarantine after 10 days if you have no symptoms or after seven days if you have a negative COVID-19 test two days before you pay to end your quarantine.

The CDC also suggests that even if you tested negative for COVID-19, you should be quarantined if you have an encounter with someone who has the virus. “By self-quarantining for 14 days, you reduce the chance of exposing others to COVID-19,” the agency said.

Those who have been exposed to COVID-19 or have given positive results should also be very careful to reduce the risk of transmission to family members.

Home can be the place of the heart, but it is also the most likely place of spread of COVID-19. The CDC published a report that found that “the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the household is frequent and occurs early after the onset of the disease.” The CDC warned that people should “immediately isolate themselves when COVID-like symptoms occur as a result of high-risk exposure or at the time of a positive test result, whichever comes first.” The CDC added that all members of the household should wear masks in the common areas of the infected individual.

According to Eat This, Not That !, CDC researchers found that it took less than a week for a family member to transmit the virus to another person, regardless of whether the person was a child or an adult. According to CNN, the study, published in a recent weekly report by the CDC Morbidity and Mortality, suggested that family members who believe they are infected stay in a separate bedroom and use their own bathroom if possible.

The researchers noted that 53% of people living with someone with COVID-19 became infected, and 75% of these secondary infections occurred within a week, according to CNN.

Here are some tips on how to keep your home safe in quarantine if someone develops COVID-19.

If you have already had COVID-19, new data from a study of 11,000 healthcare workers in the UK found that people who were infected with COVID-19 could be immune to symptomatic infection for at least six months.

According to the Daily Mail, the researchers said: “We conclude that SARS-CoV-2 infection appears to lead to protection against symptomatic infection in working-age adults, at least in the short term.”

A previous study in the US at the Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai found that 90% of people recovering from COVID-19 have immunity for at least five months. Professor Florian Krammer, a virologist at Icahn, who leads the study team, said in a statement that “more than 90% of people who were mildly or moderately ill produce an antibody response strong enough to neutralize the virus, and the response it is maintained for several months “, according to CNN.