If you’ve just tested positive for COVID, the most important things to do right now are rest, stay hydrated, and figure out whether you qualify for antiviral treatment within the first five days of symptoms. Most people recover at home without complications, but how you manage the first week matters for both your recovery and the people around you.
Check if You Qualify for Antiviral Treatment
Antiviral medications like Paxlovid can reduce the risk of severe illness and hospitalization, but they work best when started early. You’re eligible if you’re 18 or older (or over 12 and at least 88 pounds) with mild to moderate symptoms and at least one risk factor for severe COVID. Risk factors include obesity, diabetes, heart disease, lung conditions, being over 50, pregnancy, and a weakened immune system. The full list of qualifying conditions is broader than most people expect, so it’s worth checking even if you consider yourself relatively healthy.
Contact your doctor, an urgent care clinic, or a telehealth provider as soon as possible after testing positive. The treatment window is narrow. If you wait until you’re already feeling very sick, antivirals are less effective or no longer appropriate. Don’t wait to see if symptoms get worse before making the call.
Managing Symptoms at Home
Over-the-counter pain relievers like acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) are both safe to use for COVID-related fever, body aches, headaches, and sore throat. Follow the dosage instructions on the label and don’t combine multiple products that contain the same active ingredient.
Hydration is more important than most people realize, especially with fever. Fever increases fluid loss, and many people undereat and underdrink when they feel awful. A reasonable target is about 2.5 to 3 liters of fluid per day (roughly 85 to 100 ounces), which works out to about 30 milliliters per kilogram of body weight. Water is fine, but mixing in broth, sports drinks, juice, and tea helps replace electrolytes and calories. If you’re barely eating solid food, salty broth is especially useful because it replaces sodium lost through sweating.
For congestion and cough, a humidifier, hot showers, and honey in warm water or tea can all help. Throat lozenges and saline nasal spray are simple options that ease discomfort without adding more medications.
Rest More Than You Think You Need To
This is the single piece of advice that most people underestimate. Resting aggressively during the acute phase of COVID isn’t just about comfort. Clinicians who treat long COVID patients consistently report that many of their clients trace the start of their prolonged illness to pushing themselves too hard or returning to work too quickly after infection. Even people with mild symptoms can develop long COVID, so the severity of your initial illness isn’t a reliable predictor of what comes next.
The practical guidance: don’t return to normal activity levels until you feel at least 95% better. That means not just fever-free, but genuinely recovered in terms of energy and stamina. If your job allows it, take the full time you need. Light activity around the house is fine when you feel up to it, but structured exercise, intense work, and anything physically demanding should wait.
Protecting Others in Your Home
COVID spreads primarily through the air, so ventilation is your most powerful tool. Open windows in the room where you’re isolating, even partially, to increase fresh air flow. If you have a portable air purifier with a HEPA filter, put it in the room where you spend the most time. HEPA filters capture at least 99.95% of airborne particles, including those carrying virus. In one study, running a HEPA purifier in a confined room with an infectious person for two hours reduced the amount of virus inhaled by a factor of six.
Beyond air quality, the basics still apply: stay in a separate room with the door closed when possible, use a separate bathroom if you have one, and wear a well-fitting mask (N95 or KN95) whenever you’re in shared spaces. Household members who are at high risk for severe illness should also mask. Continue wearing a mask around others until at least day 11 after your symptoms started, and avoid close contact with anyone who is immunocompromised or otherwise vulnerable to severe illness during that window.
Know the Emergency Warning Signs
Most COVID cases don’t require emergency care, but certain symptoms mean you should call 911 or go to an emergency room immediately:
- Trouble breathing that isn’t just nasal congestion, but a feeling of not being able to get enough air
- Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
- New confusion or difficulty thinking clearly that wasn’t present before
- Inability to stay awake or being difficult to rouse from sleep
- Pale, gray, or blue color in the lips, nail beds, or skin
If you have a pulse oximeter, an oxygen reading consistently below 94% at rest is a reason to seek medical attention, even if you feel okay. Oxygen levels can drop before you feel noticeably short of breath.
What to Know About Rebound
Some people start feeling better after a few days and then experience a return of symptoms. This is called COVID rebound, and it happens whether or not you took antiviral medication. Some studies found rebound rates of 10% to 14% in people who took antivirals, while untreated patients experienced rebound about 4.5% of the time. The difference may partly reflect who gets prescribed antivirals in the first place (people with more risk factors).
Rebound symptoms are typically mild. No hospitalizations or deaths were reported among outpatients who experienced rebound in CDC surveillance data. Viral rebound tends to appear around 9 days after diagnosis, and the illness typically resolves by about day 16. If your symptoms return after initial improvement, continue isolating and wearing a mask around others. You’re likely still contagious during a rebound.
Getting Back to Exercise
If your COVID case was mild and you didn’t have any chest pain, heart palpitations, or unusual shortness of breath during illness, you can start light exercise 3 to 5 days after your symptoms resolve, according to guidance from the American College of Cardiology. Ease in gradually rather than jumping back to your pre-illness intensity.
If you experienced any heart or lung symptoms during your illness, or if you’re dealing with lingering fatigue, rapid heart rate, dizziness, or exercise intolerance afterward, the approach is different. Start with recumbent exercises like cycling, rowing, or swimming, which are easier on your cardiovascular system. Keep sessions short, around 5 to 10 minutes, and increase gradually as your endurance returns. One exception to the “wait until you’re better” rule: lost taste and smell can take months to fully return and shouldn’t hold you back from resuming activity.
When You Can Be Around Others Again
You can leave isolation once your symptoms are improving and you’ve been fever-free for at least 24 hours without using fever-reducing medication. But “out of isolation” doesn’t mean “back to normal.” Continue wearing a mask in indoor settings around other people through at least day 11 from when your symptoms started. This is especially important around elderly family members, immunocompromised friends, or anyone else at higher risk. The virus can still be transmissible even after you feel mostly recovered.