COVID diary, day 8 — out of isolation!

My COVID infection and isolation diary, continued. (Previous posts: days 1–2, 3–4, 5–7)

November 5

I slept late again, easily, and only woke around 10 am when a campus public health officer called to check on me. I felt clear-headed, not in pain, and reported accordingly.

The morning passed quickly in checking RSS feeds, taking a shower, reading the news. My vitals were fine; my weight, down to 214, the lowest I’ve weighed since… the 1990s or so.

Thinking about weight led to lunch, then reading with Owain.

I thought I should check in with my HMO (health insurance provider), Kaiser Permanente. This meant firing up their website, logging in, and trying to reach a nurse on their chat service. This took more than an hour; again, it seems like KP suffers from staffing shortages on weekends.

Finally I got through. The nurse asked for my symptoms, reviewed my file, then pointed out I didn’t need to be in isolation any longer. I’d been here for eight days, at least four of which were symptom-free. That was good enough grounds to release me, as per CDC guidelines.

She shared this statement with me:

When to End Isolation:

If you had no symptoms, end isolation after 5 days (day zero is the test date).

If symptoms are gone or resolving, and you have no fever for 24 hours (without using fever-reducing medication), end isolation…