Why NC officials say ‘stay home,’ you don’t need a test for mild symptoms of COVID-19
State officials want people with mild symptoms of COVID-19 to stay home and possibly skip being tested as health care workers’ supplies shrink and wait times for test results grow.
Some communities in North Carolina are already under “stay at home” or “shelter in place” orders, including Mecklenburg County, the state’s most-populous county. Restrictions to force more people to work from home and avoid non-essential errands and travel go into effect Thursday night in Durham and Friday night in Orange County. Those orders permit people to leave their homes to seek medical treatment, as well as for some other needs.
But now N.C. health officials say that because health care workers are strained and testing is limited, more people — specifically those with mild symptoms — should stay home.
“Testing is most important for people who are seriously ill, in the hospital, people in high-risk settings like nursing homes or long-term care facilities, health care workers and other first responders who are caring for those with COVID-19,” the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement Thursday.
“Most people who get COVID-19 will have mild illness and recover at home.”
North Carolina’s state health director Dr. Betsy Tilson gave similar guidance earlier this week, saying people with mild symptoms of COVID-19 run the risk of spreading the illness to others, including nurses and doctors, if they leave their home to get tested. And personal protective equipment for doctors needs to be conserved for treating people who are seriously ill.
Symptoms of COVID-19 are often mild
Symptoms of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new strain of coronavirus, include coughing, fever and shortness of breath.
“Because there is no treatment for COVID-19, a test will not change what someone with mild symptoms will do,” the state health department says.
People who are sick with mild symptoms should separate themselves from others in their homes as much as possible, health officials say. They can go back to normal activities when it has been seven days since first symptoms, they haven’t had a fever for three days without taking medicine, and their other symptoms are improved.
Mecklenburg Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said Tuesday one in five people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the county had been hospitalized. Some of those people have since been released from the hospital.
Anyone with serious symptoms, or at high risk for severe illness should call their doctor. People at higher risk include people who are 65 years and older, who live in a nursing home or long-term care facility, or have a high-risk condition, like chronic lung disease, asthma or a compromised immune system.
For more information on what to do if you get sick, check the Department of Health and Human Services’ updated COVID-19 fact sheet.
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