In Los Angeles County, if you have COVID-19:
You are considered to have COVID-19 if you have a positive test for COVID-19 or a healthcare provider tells you that you have COVID-19.
If you have questions, are experiencing homelessness, or are unable to safely isolate at home, call the Public Health COVID Information Line at 1-833-540-0473. Help is available daily from 8:00am to 8:30pm.
If you have COVID-19, you must stay home away from others for at least 5 days. You must isolate even if you have no symptoms and/or if you have been vaccinated or infected in the past. Follow the isolation instructions below to protect others.
To count the days:
Ending isolation:
You may end isolation after Day 5* (i.e., between Day 6-10) if:
*Note: LAC DPH strongly recommends that you get a negative test for COVID-19 before ending isolation between Day 6-10. If you do test, it is best to use antigen tests (including self-tests) to lower the risk of false positives.
If your symptoms of COVID-19 are not improving, you must continue to isolate until your symptoms are improving or until after Day 10.
If you have a condition that weakens your immune system or you were severely ill or hospitalized with COVID-19 you might need to stay home for longer than 10 days. Talk to your doctor about when you can be around other people.
If your COVID-19 symptoms return or get worse after you end isolation, you may have COVID-19 rebound. Take an antigen test. If you test positive, you need to restart isolation at Day 0. Talk to your doctor about your symptoms or concerns.
While in isolation, you must wear a well-fitting mask if there is a need to be in the same room with others. Continue to wear a well-fitting mask when you are indoors around others through Day 10.*
*If you meet the criteria to end isolation after Day 5, you can stop wearing a mask sooner (between Day 6-10) if you have two negative COVID-19 tests in a row that were taken at least a day apart.
Note: When you return to work, you are required to wear a mask at your workplace for a total of 10 days. See Return to Work (Non-Healthcare) Summary Table.
To learn which masks offer the best protection, see ph.lacounty.gov/masks.
Tell your close contacts that they could be infected. They should take steps to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 even if they feel well or are up to date with their vaccines. These steps include masking, testing, and monitoring their health. Give them the instructions which are available in multiple languages at ph.lacounty.gov/covidcontacts.
If you could have gotten COVID-19 or passed it on to others at work or school, please tell your workplace or school so that they can take precautions, including recommending testing.
A “close contact” is anyone who shared the same indoor airspace as you for at least 15 minutes in 24-hours while you were infectious*.
Examples of indoor airspaces are homes, waiting rooms, and airplanes. An example of ‘at least 15 minutes ’ is being in the same airspace for 5 minutes at 3 different times in a 24-hour period.
*You are considered to be infectious (meaning you can spread COVID-19 to others) from 2 days before your symptoms began until you meet criteria to end isolation. If you test positive for COVID-19 but do not have any symptoms, you are considered to be infectious from 2 days before your test was taken through Day 5.
*depending on skin tone
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Public Health has made reasonable efforts to provide accurate translation. However, no computerized translation is perfect and is not intended to replace traditional translation methods. If questions arise concerning the accuracy of the information, please refer to the English edition of the website, which is the official version.
