What to do if you catch Covid
You’ve just tested for Covid and … uh oh, it’s positive! What to do now?
First steps: protect the people around you
If you’ve tested positive for Covid, you will currently be infectious. Depending on where you are at the time, initial steps to protect those around you include:
Put a respirator mask on straight away.
Open windows to ventilate the space and help to disperse virus particles.
Let people know that you’ve got the virus (family members, workmates, friends you’ve been in close contact with).
If you’re at work, go home straight away, if you can. Wear a respirator mask on your way home, especially if you are using public transport, sharing a vehicle or walking on busy streets.
Caring for your health while you're isolating
Seek antiviral medications as soon as possible, if you’re eligible for them. These must be taken within the first five days of becoming unwell with Covid. These medications help protect your body from the harmful effects of the virus, reducing your chances of needing hospitalisation and developing Long Covid. Note that eligibility criteria for antivirals may change, so check this at COVID-19 antivirals: Access Criteria.
Ask your doctor about getting a prescription for Metformin, which has been shown to reduce the incidence of Long Covid by 40 percent if given during the early days of a Covid infection. It is safe and widely available with few contraindications.
Rest up as much as possible to help yourself recover. Lie in bed, watch TV or read a book, and try to eat well.
If you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, the usual treatments for colds and sore throats should be helpful – painkillers, lozenges and throat sprays, lemon drinks etc.
It can be helpful to do all you can to lower the amount of virus in your mouth and nose through gargling and saline nasal irrigation. This gives your body a better chance of fighting off infection.
You can also lower your viral load by using nasal sprays.
A pulse oximeter may be useful. This is a small device, available from pharmacies, that clips onto your finger and measures the oxygen level in your blood. A reading of less than 95% suggests that your body is not getting enough oxygen, and you should seek medical advice.
For more information about getting antivirals, isolation periods, managing your symptoms, and more, see If you have COVID-19 - Unite against COVID-19.
An acute Covid infection can be dangerous, so if you need advice on how to treat your symptoms, or have worsening symptoms, talk to your healthcare provider or call the COVID-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453.
And if you or the person you are caring for develops difficulty breathing, severe chest pain or fainting or becomes unconscious, call 111 immediately.
Preventing the virus from spreading at home
It is difficult, but not always impossible, to prevent Covid from spreading within your home. If you have some space in your house for isolation, and the time to take some simple precautions, you can keep the people you live with safe from catching Covid and becoming ill themselves.
Choose one room as your isolation room – perhaps a bedroom or other room that you can occupy by yourself. Stay in it as much as possible, with the door closed, and leave it only to use the toilet and bathroom, or perhaps to get some fresh air (if there is somewhere outside where you won’t infect others). Put a draft-stopper or towel along the bottom of the bedroom door, to stop infected air flowing out of the bedroom and into the rest of the house.
When you go elsewhere in the house, wear a high-quality mask (eg an N95, P2, FFP2) at all times.
After you have used the toilet or bathroom, open the window and/or turn on the extractor fan (if there is one), to ventilate the room. Wipe down surfaces and door handles with disinfectant or soapy water. Flush the toilet with the lid closed.
If the house has more than one bathroom/toilet, have one bathroom for you to use while unwell and isolating, with your housemates using the other toilet/bathroom.
Meals should be delivered to your room, if possible. The person delivering the meal should wear a mask (N95, P2, FFP2 preferably) if they need to come into your room.
Try to keep the house well ventilated (both inside your room and in the house generally) so that the Covid virus particles you exhale are dispersed as much as possible. On still days with little to no breeze, you may need to turn on a fan to bring fresh air in through the windows.
If you have an air purifier with a HEPA filter, use this too, to help remove Covid particles from the air.
You can download a 'We are isolating' poster from the Ministry of Health website, to let visitors to your home know that you are isolating.
Using this approach, many households have successfully stopped Covid from spreading to other members of the home, even in large households or where there is only one toilet/bathroom.
Leaving isolation
The Ministry of Health currently recommends that you isolate for at least five days. However, people can be infectious for 10 days (and sometimes longer).
If you are still symptomatic and/or testing positive for Covid, you are likely to still be infectious and should keep isolating if possible. If you do have to go out, wear a high-quality mask (N95, KN95, FFP2). Isolating (if you can) and masking on days 6–10 helps reduce the risk that others will catch the virus from you.
Resuming exercise after you've had Covid
Continue to take it as easy as you can after you’ve had Covid. Evidence shows that Covid infections increase your risk of developing a wide range of serious heart conditions and heart failure even if your infection feels mild and you don’t have a pre-existing heart condition. So it’s important to resume physical activities, sports and exercise gradually, starting gently and listening to your body.
If you find that you are crashing or that gradually increasing your exercise is making you feel worse, not better, you may be suffering from Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM), a very common symptom of Long Covid. If you have PEM, you should be very careful about exercise as it can make you sicker. Rest and pacing are essential. You can learn more about PEM and other people’s experience of managing it at Long Covid Support Aotearoa.
