What To Do If Your Roommate Has COVID-19 - Care Tips and Precautions

What To Do If Your Roommate Has COVID-19

Getting sick with COVID-19 can be stressful and disruptive to your daily routine. But when your roommate gets COVID, it presents unique challenges with managing the illness in close quarters and trying to avoid getting infected yourself.

Living with someone who has COVID requires taking proper precautions and adjusting your lifestyle temporarily to care for your roommate and keep the virus contained. This article covers everything you need to know when your roomie has COVID.

Quarantine Your Roommate

The first step when your roommate tests positive for COVID is to have them quarantine or isolate in a separate room away from you and other housemates. The CDC recommends COVID-positive individuals isolate for at least 5 days and longer if symptoms persist.

Ideally, your sick roommate will have their own bedroom and bathroom to quarantine in. If not, try to isolate them in an area as far away from other shared spaces as possible.

Provide them with supplies like tissues, medication, a thermometer, and easy to prepare foods and drinks to limit their movement around common areas. A pulse oximeter to monitor oxygen levels is also useful.

Your roommate should wear a mask anytime they briefly leave their quarantine space to use a shared bathroom or kitchen.

Coordinate With Your Roommate

Maintaining open communication with your ill roommate is key. Check in regularly about their symptoms and needs.

Youll need to work together to ensure you each get necessities while avoiding close contact. For example, you can leave food, medicines, or other supplies outside your roommate's door rather than entering their space.

Agree on notification protocols in case your roommates condition worsens and they need medical attention. Clear communication reduces COVID exposure risk and anxiety during this stressful time.

Follow Infection Prevention Basics

Practice rigorous infection control in shared areas to avoid getting sick. This includes:

• Washing hands frequently with soap and water.
• Cleaning high-touch surfaces like doorknobs, counters, and electronics daily.
• Not sharing items like towels, dishes, electronics, or personal care products.
• Opening windows and using vent fans to improve air circulation.

Everyone in the home should wear a high-quality mask or respirator whenever not in their own room, including the sick person when leaving isolation.

Limit your time in shared spaces as much as possible while your roommate is contagious. For example, isolate in your bedroom as much as you can.

Adjust Your Schedule

Living with an ill roommate requires temporarily adapting your normal routine to reduce infection risk. Some tips include:

• Using the kitchen and bathroom at different times than your roommate.
• Avoiding inviting other people inside the home until the illness passes.
• Working or studying remotely from your own room if possible.
• Rescheduling non-urgent appointments, deliveries, repairs, etc.

Coordinate a system where you and your roommate take turns spending time in shared areas rather than using them simultaneously.

You may need to assume responsibility for tasks your roommate normally handles like cleaning, cooking, or shopping. Ask healthy housemates, family, or friends nearby to assist when necessary.

Monitor Your Health

Check yourself daily for potential COVID symptoms like fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, headache, or loss of taste or smell. This is important even if you dont feel sick.

Keep a thermometer and pulse oximeter on hand. Record your temperature and oxygen levels each morning and night to catch any changes early.

If you develop symptoms or receive a positive test result, immediately isolate away from your roommate to prevent amplifying the spread within your home.

Get Tested

All roommates should get PCR or rapid antigen tested for COVID around 2 to 3 days after exposure to the sick person, then repeat testing every 2 to 3 days afterward while your roommate completes their isolation period.

This helps identify anyone else who may have caught the virus to contain it quickly. Continue periodic testing for 10 to 14 days.

Even if your test is negative, you should still closely monitor for symptoms and avoid high-risk settings in case the result was a false negative or you become infected later.

Use Caution With At-Home Care

While you want to support your roommates recovery, balance this with safeguarding your own health.

Avoid direct contact as much as possible and stand at least 6 feet away whenever interacting with them. Do not be in their immediate space unnecessarily or provide hands-on care.

Those at high risk for severe COVID outcomes should not care for an infected roommate at all. Instead, seek assistance from healthy housemates, friends, or medical professionals.

Know When to Seek Care

Encourage your sick roommate to stay hydrated, get adequate rest, and treat bothersome symptoms like fever, cough, and body aches with over-the-counter medications.

However, certain warning signs warrant prompt medical evaluation, including:

• Difficulty breathing
• Chest pain
• Confusion
• Inability to stay awake
• Blue-colored lips or face
• Oxygen levels below 92% on pulse oximeter

Call 911 or contact a doctor right away if your roommate experiences these or other concerning symptoms. Timely treatment can prevent complications.

Support Your Roommate Emotionally

In addition to physical health impacts, your roommate may experience fear, anxiety, sadness, irritability, or other difficult emotions related to their COVID diagnosis and isolation.

Provide reassurance that their symptoms should improve with time and rest. Check in often on their mental health and mood.

Offer distractions like books, movies, video calls with family and friends, music, gentle stretching, or meditation. This supports their emotional wellbeing while quarantined.

Disinfect Your Home

Thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting all shared areas reduces lingering viral particles after your roommates illness resolves. Here are some tips:

• Wait 24 hours after the sick person used a space before cleaning to allow virus particles to settle.
• Wear gloves, mask, and eye protection while cleaning.
• Clean first with soap and water to remove dirt and grime.
• Then disinfect surfaces using EPA-approved household disinfectants.
• Pay attention to frequently touched spots like light switches, remotes, phones, keyboards, and counters.
• Wash all linens, towels, and dishes used by the infected person in hot soapy water.
• Avoid vacuum cleaning which can re-aerosolize viral particles. Use wet mopping instead.

Improve Home Ventilation

Proper ventilation removes viral particles from the air, reducing COVID spread. Try these tips:

• Open windows to increase fresh air circulation.
• Run vent fans that exhaust air from bathrooms and kitchen.
• Consider portable air cleaners with HEPA filters for bedrooms.
• Ensure HVAC systems are serviced and filters changed regularly.
• Install high-quality filters with a MERV-13 rating or higher.

Keep windows open as much as possible until your roommate completes their isolation period.

Be Cautious After Recovery

Those recovering from COVID can still test positive and potentially spread the virus to others after symptoms improve. Take precautions for at least 10 days after your roommate's symptoms started.

Your roommate should continue wearing a mask and practice good hygiene. Limit contact with high-risk people. Avoid travel, crowded settings, and situations where masks can't be worn.

Continue monitoring yourself and other roommates closely for symptoms. Test again 3-5 days after your roommate ends isolation if supply allows.

When to Seek Medical Care

Living with someone with COVID-19 raises your risk of getting infected. Monitor yourself closely and contact a doctor right away if you experience:

• Fever over 100.4F (38C)
• Cough, sore throat, or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue or body aches
• New loss of taste or smell
• Chest pain or pressure
• Feeling confused or difficult to wake

Let the provider know you have an exposure to COVID positive roommate. Timely care can ease symptoms and prevent complications.

When to Return to Normal Activities

It's safest to keep isolating from your ill roommate, wearing masks at home, and limiting time in shared spaces for a full 10 days after your last exposure.

Watch closely for any signs of illness and get re-tested 3-5 days after your roommate finishes isolation. If you remain symptom-free and test negative, you can gradually resume normal activities.

However, continue monitoring for symptoms and wear a high-quality mask in public for 14 days post-exposure. Avoid contact with high-risk people during this time. Be prepared to isolate again if symptoms develop.

Prevent Future Illness

Once your roommate fully recovers, take steps to lower infection risks at home to stay healthy moving forward:

• Ensure all roommates are up-to-date on COVID vaccinations and boosters.
• Talk with roommates about safety protocols for social interactions, travel, etc.
• Stock up on masks, tests, medications, and other preparedness supplies.
• Discuss backup care plans in case someone becomes sick again.
• Improve ventilation by opening windows, upgrading filters, and using air cleaners.

Staying informed, communicating openly, and collaborating on safety measures helps protect the health of your entire household.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new treatment regimen.