Frequently asked questions about COVID-19

The COVID-19 vaccine is still the optimal way to protect yourself against COVID-19 infection, however there are additional medications available to help lower your risk of becoming infected with the virus. Our COVID-19 treatment and preventative medicine page provides information about your options.

If you think you might have COVID-19, there are steps you can take to help prevent the virus from spreading to others in your home and community, including:

• Get tested for COVID-19 and act as if you have the virus until you receive a negative result.
• Stay away from others if you have symptoms.
• Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth while you are near others.

The best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19 is by getting the COVID-19 vaccine and any boosters when eligible. Also, take these steps to avoid exposure to the virus:

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Practice "social distancing." Stay at least six feet away from other people.
• Clean and disinfect high-touch objects and surfaces (counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets and bedside tables, light switches) using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.
• Because infected people can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms, the CDC recommends wearing face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

In addition, to help prevent the spread of the disease to others and prepare for possible infection:

• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue (and then dispose of this) or your elbow.
• Contact your health care provider to ask about getting an extra supply of your regular prescription medicines to have on hand if there is an outbreak of COVID-19 in the community and you need to stay home for a long period of time.
• Be sure you have over-the-counter medicines and supplies (tissues, etc.) to treat fever and other symptoms. Most people will be able to recover from COVID-19 at home.
• Keep household items and groceries on hand so that you will be prepared to stay at home for a period of time.

The CDC has excellent advice to help prevent household members from getting infection if someone in the home has COVID-19. These include sleeping in separate rooms, using separate bathrooms if possible, frequent hand washing, and staying more than six feet away from the infected person.

Let your health care provider know right away if you are aware of having contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. Your provider can determine if you need testing and provide more education on how to prevent further risk of infection to you and to prevent spread of infection to others.

If you test positive for COVID-19, the CDC recommends that you stay home for five days, regardless of your vaccination status. If you have no symptoms or your symptoms have resolved after five days, you can leave your house. You should continue to wear a mask around others for five additional days. If you have a fever, continue to stay home until your fever resolves.

If you cannot find a place to get tested, and do not have access to an at-home antigen test, you should assume your symptoms are likely to be from COVID-19. Isolate in accordance with CDC guidance and talk to your healthcare provider.

Individuals with COVID-19 can breastfeed if they wish to do so. They should:

1. Practice respiratory hygiene during feeding, wearing a mask where available.
2. Wash hands before and after touching the baby.
3. Routinely clean and disinfect surfaces they have touched.

Being immunocompromised means that your immune system’s defenses are low, affecting its ability to fight off illness and infection, including COVID-19. Certain conditions like autoimmune diseases (i.e., lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Type 1 diabetes), your age, and a history of smoking could increase the chance of infection. Medical treatments, such as cancer treatments and organ and bone marrow transplants, can also weaken or suppress the immune system.

If you're immunocompromised, it’s especially important to protect yourself by getting vaccinated, wearing a mask, washing your hands, frequently disinfecting high-touch surface areas, and practicing social distancing. Penn Medicine has also put many safety measures in place throughout our locations to reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure to even our most vulnerable patients.

The CDC has detailed advice regarding travel. If you travel, take the following routine precautions:

• Avoid contact with sick people.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Clean your hands often by washing them with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer—especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose.
• Make sure you are up-to-date with your vaccinations.

For symptom management, we recommend acetaminophen (Tylenol) to control fever or pain. If Tylenol doesn’t help your symptoms, NSAIDs such as ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) or naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn) can be used, but only at recommended doses.

No supplements or medications have been shown to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. The best way to prevent COVID-19 is to practice social distancing, to wash your hands regularly, and to wear a mask when in public.

Ultraviolet (UV) rays are part of sunlight. Studies show that UV light can be used to eliminate airborne COVID-19 particles and disinfect surfaces. For this reason, some hospitals, subways, and other public locations are using UV light to help disinfect areas when they are not occupied by people. While helpful for cleaning these areas, UV light has not been shown to prevent COVID-19 infection in humans or to eliminate the virus in infected patients. The safety and efficacy of many UV light devices sold to the public are not routinely reviewed, so these should be used with caution. Overexposure to ultraviolet rays can have harmful health effects and is a major risk factor for cancer. For these reasons, you should wear sunscreen on exposed skin when you’re in the sun for long periods.

Smoking marijuana, nicotine, or vape e-cigarettes leads to damage to lungs and airways that may put you at further risk of harm from a COVID-19 infection. Cannabis and nicotine are among many substances currently being studied in the context of COVID-19, but no data are available yet. In the interim, the harms of smoking to your airways are well-established in the medical literature.

Vitamin D is among the many medications being studied in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. However, researchers are still trying to evaluate vitamin D's role in preventing or treating COVID-19. There are no established recommendations for its use at this time. It’s important to discuss with your physician whether vitamin D supplementation may be appropriate for you.

There are many physical and mental health benefits of regular exercise. Exercise is important to maintain health, prevent weight gain, reduce stress and anxiety, and improve sleep. Some studies even show that regular, moderate-intensity exercise may have immune-boosting benefits, but the impact of exercise on susceptibility to COVID-19 is not known.

If you have any chronic medical conditions or have not exercised in a while, it’s best to check with your physician before picking up a new exercise regimen.

Currently, Penn Medicine has protocols in place to maximize the safety of all who enter our hospitals and facilities. These safety policies include limiting the number of people accompanying patients to appointments or seeing them in the hospital.

The health and safety of both our patients and staff is of the utmost importance. That's why we've required all employees, medical staff, and other health care personnel to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

If you feel anxious or have concerns about coming in for care, call our COVID-19 hotline at 833-983-1350 to speak with us. We also can connect you with a behavioral health specialist who can talk with you about your concerns.

Currently, we have practices in place, including limiting visitors, to maximize the safety of all who enter our hospitals and facilities.

We are prioritizing patients for surgery based on their medical condition, their risk for disease progression, their decision to have surgery or a procedure, and available resources.

It’s important that you discuss whether to postpone your surgery with your doctor. You and your surgeon can make an informed decision together based on your specific medical condition.

Our Laboratory Patient Service Centers prioritize orders for patients who require urgent laboratory testing, but patients can also schedule non-urgent lab testing.

While some radiology locations offer walk-in visits, we recommend that all patients schedule an appointment. This will ensure that any pre-certification needed is complete before your visit. To schedule, visit our locations page to find the address or a phone number of a Penn Medicine radiology facility near you.

Your doctor will let you know if you need an in-person visit or if you can have a post-surgical follow-up visit by telephone or video.

Your care team will work with you to identify the most appropriate post-operative plan specific to your surgery and individual needs. Options may range from home-based recovery with self-care or skilled-care (nursing and therapy) to more intensive rehabilitation services in a skilled nursing facility, acute rehabilitation hospital, or specialty hospital.

If your post-surgery needs are limited to outpatient physical, occupational, or speech therapy, you will be able to coordinate those visits on your own. Services may be provided in person or virtually from home depending on your specific needs and goals.

Quarantine is only necessary if you have been exposed to a person with COVID-19 or if you have tested positive.

We offer programs to help you determine the best options for your unique financial situation. If you have limited or no health insurance, or are on a fixed or limited income, you are encouraged to contact our financial advocates by calling 215-662-3505 or emailing patientfinancialadvocacy@uphs.upenn.edu.

We recognize the uncertainty and challenges that the evolving COVID-19 pandemic poses to you, your loved ones, and your work. Thank you for your continued service to ensure the health and safety of all our patients, their families, and our staff.

PennCobalt*, an employee health and wellness platform, launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers access to therapy, group activities, wellness coaching, spiritual support, and more.

*Please note, this link can only be viewed within the UPHS firewall on a workplace desktop or via VPN for information security.

Community Resource Connects provides information on community services and programs to support you and your family, including resources for food, transportation, housing, and more. Visit Community Resource Connects

By clicking the link above, you will be accessing a third-party site that is powered by Aunt Bertha, Inc. This site contains links to other websites that are not affiliated with Penn Medicine. Penn Medicine does not endorse third party websites and is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such sites.

Shortness of breath refers broadly to the feeling of chest tightness, a "hunger" for air, suffocation-like sensations, breathlessness, or an inability to breathe. While shortness of breath can be an associated symptom of coronavirus, it can also normally occur in healthy people due to extreme temperatures, strenuous exercises, high altitude, anxiety, and stress. When assessing your shortness of breath, it’s important to consider other factors such as potential exposures, the severity of your breathlessness, any progression in symptoms, and other potential signs of infection.

A loss of the sense of smell or taste is a symptom being reported among patients with COVID-19. Studies suggest that this symptom can last for up to four to six weeks. If you are a Penn Medicine employee, please notify your supervisor if you have lost a sense of smell or taste. If you are a patient, this symptom may warrant testing, depending on your travel history or the presence of other symptoms. You should contact your primary care doctor to discuss further.

There are reports of skin issues in COVID-19 patients, but these symptoms alone don’t mean you have the virus. Hive-like itchy rashes, pink-reddish spots, or reddish-purple patches on the toes or fingers of COVID-19 patients have mostly been seen in children and young adults. These symptoms seem to follow a mild case of COVID-19. Little is known about why this happens. Based on just this symptom, you would not qualify for testing.

You should watch for symptoms such as fever, dry cough, or shortness of breath, and you should self-quarantine, practice social distancing, and hand washing. If you develop more symptoms, notify your provider. Because they care for vulnerable patients, healthcare personnel with symptoms like finger, toe, or foot rashes may be tested for COVID-19 even without additional symptoms. They should notify their supervisors, Occupational Health Services, and their own providers.

There is an overlap between symptoms of COVID-19 and the flu, common cold, or allergies. It may be difficult to distinguish based on symptoms alone. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, dry cough, and fatigue. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, which can range from mild to severe, generalized muscle aches, and sore throat. Diarrhea, nausea, runny nose, and red eyes are reported but less common.

These symptoms can also be seen with the flu or other respiratory viruses. Seasonal allergies rarely cause a fever and severe shortness of breath. The only definite way to know whether you have COVID-19 or influenza is to be tested by a healthcare provider. You can further discuss your symptoms with your provider to determine if you meet the criteria for testing.

Getting the flu vaccine every year is the best way to prevent infection with influenza, a virus that can cause many of the same symptoms as COVID-19, including fever, cough, difficulty breathing, and even death. Flu vaccines are usually available in the fall each year. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s even more important to be vaccinated against the flu to help prevent influenza, avoid a mistaken diagnosis of COVID-19, and preserve healthcare resources. There is no evidence that getting a flu vaccine increases the risk of getting COVID-19.

Washing your hands with soap and water is the recommended method of keeping your hands clean. If soap and water are not available, you can use hand sanitizer, but it must have an alcohol content of at least 60 percent to be effective.

The likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, traveled, and exposed to different conditions and temperatures is also low.

There is no evidence that the coronavirus can be transmissible by blood transfusion, and there have been no reported cases worldwide of transmissions for any respiratory virus including the coronavirus. Blood donations are essential to keeping essential supplies of blood in blood banks around the country, and the Red Cross highly encourages healthy people to donate in this time of need. The CDC is supporting blood centers by providing recommendations that will keep donors and staff safe. Examples of these recommendations include spacing donor chairs six feet apart, thoroughly adhering to environmental cleaning practices, and encouraging donors to make donation appointments ahead of time.

There have been no reports of the spread of COVID-19 via air conditioning in the United States at this time. One study from a restaurant in China described the transmission of COVID-19 to nearby diners possibly associated with the air conditioning, but close proximity of patrons and poor ventilation in the restaurant also played a role.

To date, there has been no evidence of transmission through re-circulated air in buildings such as apartment complexes; it is unlikely that COVID-19 can travel long distances through vents. It is important to continue to wear masks and maintain good hand hygiene and to regularly disinfect public spaces. However, at this time there is no evidence to suggest that air conditioning units will further spread the virus.

While copper has been shown to have many antimicrobial properties and coronavirus has been shown to die faster on copper than most other surfaces, it can still last on copper surfaces such as pennies, teakettles, cookware, etc. for around four hours. Copper may damage the cell membranes, or "envelopes" of the virus, generate stress on the viral cells, and create toxic hydrogen peroxide, as well as interfere with the proteins that keep the cells alive. We are still learning from research on the antimicrobial properties and the most effective ways to use copper in everyday life to keep us healthy.