Frequently Asked Questions | CDC

Frequently Asked Questions | CDC

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated April 11, 2020

On This Page

• Coronavirus Disease 2019 Basics
• How COVID-19 Spreads
• How to Protect Yourself
• COVID-19 and Children
• School Dismissals and Children
• Preparing Your Home and Family for COVID-19
• In Case of an Outbreak in Your Community

• Symptoms & Testing
• Higher Risk
• Healthcare Professionals and Health Departments
• COVID-19 and Funerals
• What CDC is Doing
• COVID-19 and Animals

Other Frequently Asked Questions and Answers About:

• Travel
• Pregnant Women and COVID-19
• Water Transmission
• Healthcare Professionals
• Healthcare Infection
• Laboratory Diagnostic Panels
• Laboratory Biosafety
• Personal Protective Equipment
• K-12 Schools and Child Care Program Administrators
• Community events: for administrators and individuals
• Retirement Communities and Independent Living Facilities
• Correctional and Detention Facilities
• Event Organizers & Individuals
• Cloth Face Coverings

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Coronavirus Disease 2019 Basics

How COVID-19 Spreads

How to Protect Yourself

COVID-19 and Children

School Dismissals and Children

Preparing Your Home and Family for COVID-19

In Case of an Outbreak in Your Community

Symptoms & Testing

Higher Risk

Healthcare Professionals and Health Departments

See also: FAQs for Healthcare Professionals

COVID-19 and Funerals

What CDC is Doing

COVID-19 and Animals

See also: Animals and COVID-19

Footnotes

1Fever may be subjective or confirmed

2Close contact is defined as—

a) being within approximately 6 feet (2 meters) of a COVID-19 case for a prolonged period of time; close contact can occur while caring for, living with, visiting, or sharing a health care waiting area or room with a COVID-19 case

– or –

b) having direct contact with infectious secretions of a COVID-19 case (e.g., being coughed on)

If such contact occurs while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment or PPE (e.g., gowns, gloves, NIOSH-certified disposable N95 respirator, eye protection), criteria for PUI consideration are met”

See CDC’s updated Interim Healthcare Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Persons Under Investigation for 2019 Novel Coronavirus.

Data to inform the definition of close contact are limited. Considerations when assessing close contact include the duration of exposure (e.g., longer exposure time likely increases exposure risk) and the clinical symptoms of the person with COVID-19 (e.g., coughing likely increases exposure risk as does exposure to a severely ill patient). Special consideration should be given to those exposed in health care settings.