Infectious period

[MerinoFroggie]

A colleague of mine became a close contact on Christmas week and went on to develop symptoms on New year's eve. She made contact with work last week and she wanted to come back to work for Monday just gone. That probably would be day 10 of her infection. She still had symptoms of the virus when she made contact with work last week and said she has a slight cough and yet she still wanted to come back to work.

Thankfully she was stopped. She is due to return on Monday for work and I am so nervous. How can I trust her that her symptoms have fully resided especially considering she wanted to rush back to work within the 10 day infectious period. What if she has a fever and she conceals it and doesn't say anything. I am so nervous.

I will follow the guidelines on masks and social distancing but my work is allergic to opening windows.

Can someone still be infectious after 2/3 weeks? I was extremely diligent at following the guidelines for months, it will be very disappointing to become exposed at work.

I suppose its been two weeks since new years. Can someone transmit the virus after 2 weeks?

No she shouldn't be infectious after that amount of time. She may still have a cough though as it can last for weeks afterwards

Thank you very much for your lovely reply. I guess I'm just being nervous.

I googled it and I found this. Its from the early days of the pandemic, from last March.

www.thesun.ie/news/5211959/coronavirus-patients-are-contagious-for-two-weeks-after-symptoms-disappear-who-warns/

It says the Who says people are infectious for two weeks after symptoms reside and people should continue to isolate.

Maybe the guidelines has changed since.

The guidelines have changed. As someone who has recovered from covid, I had to look into this. It is 10 days isolation but if there's a fever present, 48hrs after fever stops.

My mother-in-law is having an issue with not being allowed to return to work for your very scenario. I have the example of chicken pox ... it has an infectious period. You can have chicken pox but not be infectious. Your colleague having a cough doesn't mean they are infectious. It just means they are recovering. Some people take months to fully recover.

This is the nhs info on self isolation

Thanks for the replies. I don't know if she has a fever. I think it was mentioned she had a faver last week when she wanted to return to work. It was said she has fever and cough.

I hope she is monitoring her symptoms and fever and I hope she will be honest and if she has a fever or not.

Can someone with covid experience fever for weeks? What if she comes back to work next week and she still has fever? Are we all at risk?

Thank you dementedpixie.

I hope she is talk to her doctor and I hope she will be honest with her symptoms.

Last weeks episode doesn't bode well with me how she wanted to return to work within the 10 day window, while she was still experiencing symptoms so hopefully she will be honest about her symptoms for next week.

www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/duration-isolation.html

This is quite interesting