If you are not sure whether you should see a health care provider, contact your primary care provider, especially if you have a preexisting condition that makes you at high risk for severe illness if you get COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccines continue to be the best way to prevent severe illness from the coronavirus, the virus that causes COVID-19.

When to Get Tested for COVID-19

Key times to get tested:

• If you have symptoms, test immediately.
• If you were exposed to COVID-19 and do not have symptoms, wait at least five full days after your exposure before testing. If you test too early, you may be more likely to get an inaccurate result.
• If you are in certain high-risk settings, you may need to test as part of a screening testing program.
• Consider testing before contact with someone at high risk for severe COVID-19, especially if you are in an area with a medium or high COVID-19 Community Level.

If your symptoms are life-threatening, seek care at the closest hospital emergency department.

Care for things other than COVID-19

Same-day care

If you need same-day care and can’t get an appointment with your primary care provider, you can get care at a Norton Immediate Care Center or a Norton Prompt Care at Walgreens clinic for issues including:

• Cough
• Earache
• Fever
• Flu
• Minor animal bites
• Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
• Minor burns or cuts
• Minor injuries
• Pinkeye
• Rash or skin irritation
• Sore throat
• Urinary tract infection
• Suspected broken bone (Norton Immediate Care Center only)

Care from your home

Norton eCare offers video and phone visits for conditions that are not complex, and are not an emergency or a life-threatening situation. For example:

• Eye, nose and throat issues, such as pinkeye
• Diarrhea, nausea and vomiting
• Skin rash, insect bites and poison ivy
• Urinary issues

See a full list here.

Emergency care

Serious issues requiring care in an emergency department include:

• Chest pain
• Stroke symptoms (numbness in face, arm or leg; trouble speaking; sudden severe headache)
• Loss of consciousness or patient is unresponsive
• Major injury or head trauma
• Seizure (for those not diagnosed with epilepsy)
• Severe shortness of breath or asthma attack
• Severe burn or wound
• Shock
• Uncontrollable bleeding
• Vomiting blood

If you have a concern that you think is an emergency and your symptoms are life-threatening, call 911 or go to an emergency department right away.

The post Where to get a COVID-19 test appeared first on Norton Healthcare.

Puede tomar casi una semana después de la exposición al COVID-19 para tener un resultado positivo en la prueba.

Si está completamente vacunado, debe esperar de tres a cinco días después de la exposición antes de hacerse una prueba. La evidencia sugiere que las pruebas tienden a ser menos precisas dentro de los tres días posteriores a la exposición. Use una mascarilla en lugares públicos cerrados durante 14 días o hasta que obtenga un resultado negativo en la prueba.

Si no está completamente vacunado, póngase en cuarentena inmediatamente después de haber estado expuesto a alguien con COVID-19. Si presenta síntomas, hágase la prueba de inmediato. De lo contrario, espere de cinco a siete días.

El período de incubación de COVID-19 dura hasta 14 días. Si tiene el virus, se necesita tiempo para que se acumule en su sistema. Las pruebas tempranas pueden dar como resultado muestras que no contienen suficiente material genético del virus para mostrar un resultado positivo. Una prueba de COVID-19 es limitada porque representa solo una foto instantánea en el tiempo. Una prueba PCR negativa para COVID-19 no significa que un individuo esté libre de infección, sino que, en ese momento en particular, la muestra no contenía niveles virales en una concentración lo suficientemente alta como para ser medida como positiva.

“Si no está vacunado, es importante ponerse en cuarentena para limitar la propagación del virus si estuvo a menos de 6 pies de alguien que tiene COVID-19 durante un total de 15 minutos o más”, dijo Steven Patton, D.O., médico de medicina familiar en Norton Community Medical Associates – Preston. “La cantidad de tiempo que pasó con la persona es irrelevante si la abrazó o la besó, compartió utensilios o una bebida, o estuvo en el extremo receptor de un estornudo o tos”.

Si no está completamente vacunado, aíslese en casa mientras espera los resultados de la prueba, incluso si no tiene síntomas. Si tiene el virus, puede transmitirlo incluso si no está enfermo. No vaya a trabajar durante 14 días si es posible.

Los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades advierten que es posible que pueda detener la cuarentena después de 10 días si no se hizo la prueba y no tiene síntomas. Si se hizo la prueba el quinto día después de la exposición o más tarde y el resultado fue negativo, puede detener el aislamiento después de siete días.

Mientras esté en cuarentena, observe si tiene fiebre, dificultad para respirar u otros síntomas de COVID-19. Aquellos que experimenten síntomas graves o que pongan en peligro la vida deben buscar atención de emergencia de inmediato.

The post Si está completamente vacunado, espere unos días después de una exposición al COVID-19 antes de hacerse la prueba appeared first on Norton Healthcare.

If you are fully vaccinated — two weeks past your final COVID-19 vaccination — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend getting a COVID-19 test before traveling domestically or internationally unless your destination requires it.

Some countries require a negative test before entry, so check with your airline or the U.S. State Department for country-specific COVID-19 information. If you don’t meet requirements for entry, you may be forced to return to the United States.

Testing is recommended, but not usually required, for domestic travel if you aren’t vaccinated.

If you need proof of a negative test, your documented results are available through your secure MyNortonChart account. Some destinations require a specific travel letter. If you are needing travel testing for this letter, please schedule an appointment at a Norton Prompt Care at Walgreens location and/or Norton Express Services. Let your provider know that you are needing a travel letter sent to your MyNortonChart account. Locations are unable to print travel letters. If you need to access your child’s records, sign up for proxy access ahead of time.

All travelers are required to wear a mask over their mouths and noses throughout their journey. And before returning to the U.S. from another country, you will be required to get a COVID-19 test.

CDC travel recommendations and requirements

The post Check with your destination about COVID-19 testing before travel appeared first on Norton Healthcare.

You can still spread COVID-19 after you’ve been fully vaccinated, so be mindful that your cold or allergy symptoms may be a mild breakthrough case that can be spread to unvaccinated children and others — and may make them very sick.

“Masking, social distancing and hand-washing are still recommended. If you have symptoms that could be COVID-19, stay home. Go out to get tested, but don’t put others at risk,” said Paul S. Schulz, M.D., an infectious diseases specialist with Norton Infectious Diseases Institute and Norton Healthcare’s system epidemiologist.

People may be assuming that any upper respiratory tract symptom isn’t COVID-19 because they’ve been vaccinated. But it could be a breakthrough case, so staying home, wearing a mask if around others and keeping your hands clean are steps you can take if you aren’t feeling well.

The COVID-19 vaccines are free, have been safe for millions around the world and are very effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death.

The delta variant, a mutation of the virus and which accounts for an estimated 83% of new cases nationally, is spreading rapidly among those who aren’t fully vaccinated. The vast majority of COVID-19 patients recently hospitalized around the country have not been vaccinated.

The number of adults and children admitted to Norton Healthcare hospitals has been significantly lower than it was late last year and early this year, but has been rising recently.

Children under 12 aren’t eligible to be vaccinated, and among older children, vaccination rates have been lower than adults, with appointment requests for kids declining.

As viruses spread they mutate, and some of those variants can spread more easily than others. So far, they haven’t mutated to the point that the vaccines are ineffective.

A new mutation known as the lambda variant has been making its way around South America. It isn’t known yet if the lambda variant spreads more easily or causes more severe disease.

“If more people get vaccinated, then you get less disease, less replication — theoretically, less variation and less concern about the future of this virus,” Dr. Schulz said.

If you think you’ve been exposed to COVID-19, the best time to get tested is five to seven days later. Within only three days of exposure, tests tend to be less accurate.

The post Vaccinated? Those sniffles may mean you can spread COVID-19 appeared first on Norton Healthcare.