Selfisolation in a nutshell

WHAT DOES it mean when you have to self-isolate? Vuk’uzenzele helps with all you need to know.

As coronavirus (COVID-19) cases continue to rise across the country, people who test positivae for the virus, those who have been in close contact with them and those with COVID-19 symptoms must isolate themselves from other people for 14 days.

You can either isolate at home, which is called self-isolation, or at a designated isolation facility.

Self-isolation is a way to keep yourself from possibly infecting others if you think you might be infected. It involves limiting contact with public places, relatives, friends colleagues, and public transport.

A person who has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive must also self-isolate, even if they do not have any symptoms of COVID-19.

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, you have been in close contact if you had face-to-face contact, within one metre, or were in a closed space, for more than 15 minutes, with a person with COVID-19.

In addition, this contact happened while the person with COVID-19 was still infectious, which is from two days before their symptoms began to 14 days after.

Why must I selfisolate?

If you have been in close contact with a COVID-19 positive person, you could have the virus too. Even if you are not sick and have no symptoms at all, you can still infect other people with the virus. Those people who become infected, can infect others.

Staying at home in self-isolation will thus help to control the possible spread of the virus to your friends, relatives and wider community, especially those who are more vulnerable to severe illness.

Anyone who may have been in close contact with a known positive case and who is awaiting their test results must self-isolate as a precaution until the test results become available. If that person tested positive, you must self-isolate for 14 days.

If anyone in the household develops symptoms during the 14-day isolation period, they should be tested and the isolation period should be followed, starting from the day their symptoms started.

If someone cannot safely isolate at home, the health department can refer you to an isolation facility, where you will receive temporary care away from home.

If you are self-isolating with mild symptoms and start to feel worse, talk to a healthcare provider immediately. Symptoms that may require you to go to hospital include shortness of breath and pain in your chest.