In Los Angeles County, if you have been in close contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19 you are required* to:
It is recommended that you get tested* for COVID-19
*Note: If you have had COVID-19 with a positive viral (swab or saliva) test in the last 90 days, talk with your doctor about the need to quarantine. In addition, as long as you do not have symptoms, you do not need to get another test for COVID-19. If you do have symptoms of COVID-19, talk to your medical provider.
Please help slow the spread of COVID-19. Answer your phone if you get a call from “LA PublicHealth” or 1-833-641-0305 (see Contact Tracing).
Quarantine is used to keep someone who might have been exposed to COVID-19 away from others. Quarantine helps prevent spread of disease before a person knows they are sick or if they are infected with the virus without feeling symptoms.
You need to quarantine if you are a close contact to someone who has COVID-19.
You are “close contact” if:
*A person with COVID-19 can infect others from 2 days before their symptoms first started until they are allowed to end their home isolation (as described in Home Isolation Instructions for People with COVID-19). A person with a positive COVID-19 test who does not have symptoms is considered to be infectious from 2 days before their test was taken until 10 days after their test.
It is best to keep away from people at high risk for getting very sick from COVID-19 for the full 14 days.
*If you don’t know when you were exposed to the infected person and you received a Public Health Emergency Quarantine Order, you can end your quarantine 10 days after the date the order was issued (as long as you don’t have symptoms).
If you have a test for COVID-19, and it is negative, you must still quarantine for at least 10 days.
Your last day of quarantine is 10 days from the date after you last had close contact. For example:
For example, you live with and/or care for the person with COVID-19:
To prevent you from spreading COVID-19, you must restrict activities and limit actions that may put you in contact with others.
As a close contact to someone with COVID-19, it is recommended
that you get tested.* This is to check if you are already infected. If you test negative, you still need to quarantine for 10 days.
*Testing is not recommended for people who had a positive viral COVID-19
test in the past 90 days and do not currently
have symptoms of COVID-19.
COVID-19 and quarantine may be stressful for people. Visit the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s COVID-19 webpage and the 211LA webpage (211la.org/resources/subcategory/mental-health) for local resources to help with mental health & wellbeing concerns. Guidance and resources, including information on crisis hotlines, are also available on the CDC webpage Coping with stress.
LA County residents have free access to Headspace Plus. This is a collection of mindfulness and meditation resources in English and Spanish. It also has movement and sleep exercises to help manage stress, fear, and anxiety related to COVID-19.
If you need to speak with someone about your mental health, contact your doctor or the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Access Center 24/7 Helpline at (800) 854-7771. This number is available 24/7. You can also text “LA” to 74174.
Contact tracing is a simple, confidential process that is being used to help slow the spread of COVID-19.