What to do if you test positive for COVID at this point in the pandemic

Dr. Gounder says that the at- home rapid COVID tests come in a double pack. She says to use the tests in the box. They should be used a couple of days apart.

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We don't count the waves anymore, but the virus and the tools we have to fight it keep evolving.

The guidance seems to change just enough with each surge that it can leave even the most dedicated among us feeling lost.

Some parts of the U.S. are seeing an increase in cases driven by the BA.2 subvariant.

A former adviser to the Biden administration, Dr. Gounder is a senior fellow and editor-at-large for public health at Kaiser Health News. She runs through the latest thinking on everything from at- home tests to isolation times, contact tracing and why we may be repeating the same mistakes we made with other diseases.

The interview has been edited to make it clearer.

Contact tracing and guidelines have changed as the Pandemic wears on.

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Does the rapid at- home tests work for BA?

The tests can pick up omicron. There is a day or two delay between when you might test positive on a PCR versus when you might test positive on one of the at- home rapid antigen tests. They work to pick up infections.

On the dates listed on the tests.

I use the oldest ones first because I organize my tests by their expiration date. That is just a small tip. The tests are probably good for a long time. When they were first developed, we weren't sure how long they would last. They probably last in the order of months longer than what they are labeled to be good for.

When and how to seek treatment if you test positive.

To access treatment, you can go to covid.gov and look up where in your area you can access Paxlovid and what facilities currently stock them. If you already have a primary care physician, they can help you navigate that.

We have a short supply of treatment. We want to target that supply to people who would benefit the most from it. People who are young, healthy and have no symptoms will not end up in the hospital. That is not the best use of the short supply we currently have.

If you test positive on isolation times.

People often test positive for more than five days. Half of people who are negative by five days are positive by the next day. I think the way to address that is repeat a test. Try to stay at home if you are still positive. If you can't stay at home, you should be hiding so that you don't spread diseases to other people.

The current state of contact tracing.

Efforts to locate people have largely been dismantled. It is harder to do contact tracing now, especially if you are trying to prevent onward infections. The incubation period has gotten shorter with each variant. The incubation period for omicron is two to three days. It's hard to try to find the person that you might have been in contact with, and take precautions to stop the spread of the disease.

If you have been around people and exposed them, I think it is a good idea to inform them that they may want to get tested themselves.

Federal funding for COVID measures is drying up.

It depends on what you call normal. Is it how we have dealt with other diseases that has fallen short? It is repeating the same mistakes. We have run out of money to reimburse providers for testing uninsured patients. It is not just testing. We have run out of money to reimburse providers for treating uninsured patients. It is unfortunate that we refuse to learn from our past experiences.

I will not tell Congress what to do. If our goal is to adapt and live with COVID in a way that is not impacting our social lives or economic lives, then it will mean doing things differently, doing things better, and I hope we will.

The audio for this story was produced.