When Should You Get Tested if You’ve Been Exposed to Someone With COVID-19?

Updated October 22, 2020

Prevention magazine reports on the lack of clear guidelines about what to do if you’ve been exposed to someone with COVID-19. The article quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, who said a false negative can be dangerous, because you may go on to spread the virus without realizing it. “If you get tested and you’re positive, OK, you need to be isolated. But if you’re negative, that doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods until the incubation period (two weeks) has ended,” he says. The article was also carried by other media outlets.