How long do you test positive for COVID (omicron)

Around here we wait 12 weeks before we are to test again.

Someone we know had Covid and was told she would probably test positive for the next ninety days.

We were told not to test again for 90 days when we tested positive in Sept, that it would still show positive.

No, most jobs, and CDC guidance,  does not require a negative test to go back to work. Some jobs might require a negative test but individuals can carry the virus for months after recovery. Most places just want you to quarantine for the time set by the CDC 
This was updated in December by the CDC. If sympamatic quarantine for 14 days www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/quarantine-isolation.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fif-you-are-sick%2Fquarantine.html 

Yet the CDC says 5. No wonder why people are confused.

The CDC says 5 days for people who test positive but are ASYMPTOMATIC... they have no symptoms. People with symptoms quarantine for 10 days from the start of their symptoms.  I am amazed at how hard the distinction is for some of you.

Asymptomatic, “or their symptoms are resolving”… which opens up a wide range of interpretation as to what ‘resolving’ means. Respectfully, I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault but the CDC’s that this is unclear.

Edited to add full CDC text:

Given what we currently know about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation for the public. People with COVID-19 should isolate for 5 days and if they are asymptomatic or their symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours), follow that by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others to minimize the risk of infecting people they encounter. The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after.

They define “resolving” as without fever for 24 hours, which is, BTW, the general standard for a sick kid to return to school. This should be pretty simple for most people to understand.

I would hope anyone coughing up a lung would not end their quarantine just because their fever is subsiding. I don’t think fear is stunting my intelligence in saying so.

Fever is the indicator of an active infection. A cough is annoying but as long as the cough is better than it was and the fever has ended the cough is just a residual symptom indicating the respiratory tract needs to heal or the nervous system does.  Most people never gave a thought to a cough pre-pandemic. I don't see that changing now.  Just like the messages about the flu are nuanced so will all the future Covid messaging. It won't be a one message fits all and applies to everyone one. You will have to read carefully and think through the message instead of saying it is too difficult to understand.

The pandemic of 1918 was a strain of H1N1.  Apparently it was the first time an H1N1 infected humans. We still have H1N1 strains circulation and killing people. Do people worry about everyone's vaccination status? No. Does everyone bother to get their annual flu shot? No. Do we wring our hands in fear and be angry at others for not getting their flu vaccination? No.

Covid19 will be the same. We had a major outbreaks of H1N1 in 1976 that closed my little town down for about 3-4 weeks because so many people were sick.  Even school closed because at least half the teachers and students were sick at any one time as it rolled through the population. Then in 2009 there was another major outbreak in H1N1. My younger co-workers all go sick. Those of us who had the swine flu of 1976 didn't get it or only got a very mild case. 

Ugh. My neighbor and one child are positive. She is desperately looking for tests to test her spouse and other child. She just told me they are in line at the local urgent care to get tested. I don’t understand why they are out exposing people when they have the virus in the home. A positive home test does not need to be confirmed! Stay home!!!!!!

Ok that 14 day figure makes sense, if they are using those parameters.