You should stay in quarantine if you were exposed (within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more) to a person who tested positive for COVID-19.

Quarantine means to stay home for 14 days after your last contact with someone who has COVID-19, watch for symptoms like fever, cough, shortness of breath, or new loss of taste or smell, and stay away from others as much as possible.

If you need to take care of someone with COVID-19 (such as a family member), then your chances of having COVID-19 are higher. You should go into isolation and quarantine with the sick family member in order to prevent spread to others in the community.

The amount of time you have to quarantine depends on:

• how long since you last had close contact with a COVID-19 positive person
• how often you come into contact with someone who has COVID-19 (if you are the primary caregiver of a family member who has the disease)
• when you were notified by public health authorities that you were exposed to someone with COVID-19 and received an Emergency Quarantine Order

The most important thing you need to know is that you must quarantine for 14 days after the last day that you had close contact with someone who had COVID-19.

If you have no further contact with the person from whom you contracted COVID-19, your last day of quarantine is 14 days from the date you last had close contact with them. For example, if your last close contact with an infected person is October 1, your last day of quarantine should be on October 15.

If you live with the person who has COVID-19 and you can isolate yourself in a separate room, your last day of quarantine is 14 days. Should you come into close contact with the infected person, you have to start your 14-day quarantine from the date of last close contact.

When you cannot avoid close contact with the infected person, for example you are the primary caregiver of a family member who has COVID-19, you will have to quarantine for 14 days from the date that the infected person was cleared to stop their isolation.

If you received a Public Health Emergency Order, your quarantine will end 14 days after the date of issue.

When your quarantine period ends, you are free to resume your usual activities, including returning to work or attending school. You do not need a letter from Public Health or a negative test to finish your quarantine.

Source: LA Public Health