Frequently asked questions
Quarantine and self-isolation both involve staying home and avoiding contact with other people.
- Quarantine keeps a person who might have been exposed to COVID-19 away from others. Quarantine helps prevent spread of disease before a person knows they have COVID-19.
- Isolation separates individuals who have COVID-19 from people who do not have COVID-19. Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 need to self-isolate, even if they experience no symptoms.
If you were in close contact with a person who has COVID-19, you will need to stay home and away from other people.
Close contact means being within 6 feet of a person with COVID-19 for a cumulative total of at least 15 minutes during a 24 hour period (even if you were both wearing face coverings), living with or caring for a person who has COVID-19, or having direct contact with infectious secretions (e.g., being coughed on, kissing, sharing utensils). Some examples of close contact include:
- You were within 6 feet of someone who has COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more, even if you were both wearing face coverings.
- You provided care at home to someone who is sick with COVID-19.
- You had direct physical contact with the person (e.g., hugged or kissed them).
- You shared eating or drinking utensils.
- They sneezed, coughed, or somehow got respiratory droplets on you.
UW students, staff, faculty and other academic personnel who had close contact with any person diagnosed with COVID-19, including non-UW contacts, are required to stay home, quarantine, get tested and report to the Environmental Health & Safety Department (EH&S) COVID-19 Response Team (covidehc@uw.edu or 206.616.3344).
During quarantine, you should:
- Stay home for 14 days (or as instructed by a contact tracer) after the last date you had in-person contact with the COVID-positive person, whether or not you have symptoms, even if you tested negative for COVID-19.
- Get tested.
- Wait 5-7 days to get tested after being exposed to COVID-19 if you have no symptoms.
- If you develop symptoms during quarantine, get tested immediately, even if you had previously tested negative.
- You are strongly encouraged to enroll in the Husky Coronavirus Testing Program.
- For other testing options, read the FAQ “I want to get tested for COVID-19. Where can I go?” for testing options.
- Report your test results to EH&S.
- Watch for symptoms of COVID-19, including fever (temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher), shortness of breath, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache, muscle pain, fatigue, chills, loss of taste or smell, and gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. If you develop symptoms, get tested, continue staying at home and contact EH&S.
- Stay away from other people, especially those who are at higher risk of serious illness.
For information about how the University follows up with UW community members who have been tested, tested positive, or have been close contacts of a COVID-positive person, visit the COVID-19 Case Response page.
Stay home and away from other people after your last in-person contact with someone who has COVID-19, even if you have no symptoms.
The safest way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to:
- Stay home and away from other people (quarantine) for 14 days after your last contact with a COVID-19 positive person; and
- Get tested for COVID-19 after five or more days have passed since your last contact.
Staying home for 14 days may present hardships for some individuals. If you are unable to stay home and away from other people for 14 days, you can end quarantine after 10 days if you meet all of the following conditions:
- You have no symptoms of COVID-19 and you monitor your health daily to watch for symptoms through day 14.
- If symptoms develop, isolate yourself and get tested immediately and notify the EH&S COVID-19 Response and Prevention Team at covidehc@uw.edu.
- Get tested at least 8 days and after your last contact with a COVID-19 positive person. Test result must be negative to end quarantine on Day 10.
- Students living in residence halls must confirm a negative PCR test result to end quarantine on day 10.
- Complete the survey sent to you on day 10 from the EH&S COVID-19 Response and Prevention Team. Also, you will need to complete the 14-day survey.
Continue to take strict precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including keeping a distance of at least 6 feet from others, avoiding crowded settings, and always wearing a mask outside your home and in common areas of congregate living environments. Remember, if you were infected, you can transmit the virus at any time during the 14-day period after your last contact with a COVID-19 positive person.
Below is information about quarantine timelines under three scenarios:
Scenario 1: You had close contact with someone who has COVID-19, and you will not have further close contact with that person while they have COVID-19.
Your quarantine period starts on the last date you had close contact with a person who has COVID-19. Your quarantine starts on Day 0 and ends on Day 14, or as instructed by the contact tracer according to the guidance listed above.
Close contact includes being within six feet of a person with COVID-19 for a cumulative total of at least 15 minutes during a 24 hour period, even if you were both wearing face coverings.
Scenario 2. You are staying home (quarantine) because you had close contact with a person who has COVID-19 and you had additional close contact with a COVID-positive person during your quarantine.
If you have additional close contact with a person who has COVID-19, or a new household member gets sick with COVID-19 during your quarantine period, you will restart your quarantine. Your new start date will be the last date you had contact with any person who tested positive for COVID-19.
The example below illustrates this scenario using a 14-day quarantine period.
In the above example, you had close contact on Day 0 and again on Day 9, so Day 10 is your first day of quarantine restarted. Your 14-day quarantine ends at 11:59 p.m. on Day 23. You can resume normal activities on Day 24.
Your quarantine period will be 14 days or as instructed by the contact tracer according to the guidance above.
Scenario 3: You have a household member who has COVID-19 and you cannot avoid continued close contact.
If you cannot avoid close contact with a COVID-positive person you live with because you are caring for them, you don’t have a separate bedroom, or you are unable to keep a distance of 6 feet from the person, stay home and avoid contact with other people while the COVID-19 positive person is isolating at home. Your quarantine period starts after the person who has COVID-19 meets the criteria to end home isolation.
You do not need to quarantine if all of the following apply to you:
- You had COVID-19 illness within the previous 3 months and
- You have recovered and
- You have no COVID-19 symptoms.
The University strongly discourages all non-essential travel, and recommends adhering to guidance in the Governor’s travel advisory.
Follow the quarantine guidance in the FAQ "What should I after returning to Washington from another state?" in the Travel and study abroad section on the University's Novel coronavirus & COVID-19 FAQ webpage.
If you develop even mild symptoms of COVID-19, contact your health care provider and report it:
- UW Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma students, staff, faculty and other academic personnel should contact the UW Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) COVID-19 Response Team at covidehc@uw.edu or 206.616.3344.
- UW medical center personnel should contact their medical center’s employee health group.
After getting vaccinated, you do not need to quarantine after having close contact with a COVID-19 positive person if you meet both criteria:
- Your close contact exposure was within 3 months of becoming fully vaccinated. (You are considered fully vaccinated 2 weeks after the 2nd dose of a two-dose vaccine, or 2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine), AND
- You have not developed any symptoms of COVID-19 since your exposure.
If you do not meet one or both of the above criteria, follow the quarantine guidance provided by a contact tracer (or other public health official) to protect your health and the health of the UW community.
Even if you do not need to quarantine, it is important for you to continue using all the preventive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including:
- Wear a face covering with two or more layers that fits snugly against your face and covers your nose and mouth.
- Stay at least 6 feet away from people who do not live with you.
- Avoid crowds, especially in indoor spaces.
- Wash your hands often.
UW Medicine personnel (and other health care personnel) should follow UW Medicine (or your employer’s) guidance regarding post-exposure quarantine for health care workers.
You do not need to quarantine after having close contact with a COVID-19 positive person if you meet both criteria:
- No more than 3 months have passed since the first day you had COVID-19 symptoms (or, if asymptomatic, the date you had your test), AND
- You have not developed any new symptoms of COVID-19 since your recent exposure.
If you do not meet one or both of the above criteria, follow the quarantine guidance provided by a contact tracer (or other public health official) to protect your health and the health of the UW community.
Even if you do not need to quarantine, continue using all preventive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including:
- Wear a face covering with two or more layers that fits snugly against your face and covers your nose and mouth.
- Stay at least 6 feet away from people who do not live with you.
- Avoid crowds, especially in indoor spaces.
- Wash your hands often.
UW Medicine personnel (and other health care personnel) should follow UW Medicine (or your employer’s) guidance regarding post-exposure quarantine for health care workers.
If you test positive for COVID-19, or your health care provider suspects you have COVID-19, stay home except to get urgent medical care, even if you are not experiencing symptoms. Do not go to work or class.
- Monitor your symptoms. If you have an emergency warning sign (including trouble breathing), seek emergency medical care immediately.
- Stay in a separate room from other household members, if possible. Use a separate bathroom, if possible.
- Avoid contact with other members of the household and pets.
- Don’t share personal items, like cups, towels, and utensils.
- Wear a cloth face covering when around other people.
For more information, read the FAQ “What do I do if I feel sick?” on the University’s Novel coronavirus & COVID-19 webpage.
Faculty, staff and students on the Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma campuses should contact the EH&S COVID-19 Response Team at covidehc@uw.edu or 206.616.3344 if a health care provider confirms or suspects COVID-19 illness.
If you test positive for COVID-19 or your health care provider suspects you have COVID-19, and you have symptoms, you can be around other people after:
- At least 10 days since symptoms first appeared and
- At least 24 hours with no fever without fever-reducing medication and
- Symptoms have improved
If you tested positive for COVID-19 but you have not experienced symptoms, you can be around other people 10 days after you tested positive. A negative test result is not required or recommended by public health agencies prior to returning on site to the University.
People with certain medical conditions might need to stay home longer than 10 days. Talk to your healthcare provider for more information.
No. After you have completed the recommended isolation period, you have a low risk of transmitting the virus to others, and a COVID-19 test often continues to be positive for up to 12 weeks or longer after recovery. Therefore, if you have recovered and you no longer have COVID-19 symptoms, you do not need to be retested during the three months after your symptoms started.
You should get retested if new COVID-19 symptoms develop and more than 3 months have passed since your symptoms first started because you may be infectious and need to follow the guidance for self-isolation.
Per state and local public health guidelines, University units are asked to refrain from requiring a doctor’s note, a negative test result or positive antibody test following COVID-19 illness.