For Krisinda Merhi, recovering from Covid while isolating in her bedroom felt like “exhausting nothingness”.
“You’re tired from doing nothing, because you both can’t and don’t have the energy to,” she says.
The 25-year-old Sydneysider contracted Covid after a trip to Melbourne in November. It started with “slight congestion and a persistent cough”.
After receiving a positive PCR result, Merhi instantly relocated to her bedroom, where she stayed isolated for a week. Luckily, her family of five, who isolated inside the home as close contacts, all remained negative.
As daily Covid numbers surpass 21,000 in New South Wales, and “worst case” Covid modelling suggests 200,000 cases a day nationwide by late January, Prof Jayashra Kulkarni says isolation inside the home as either a Covid-positive person or close contact is becoming “a common experience now”.
Kulkarni is a professor of psychiatry from Monash University, and has isolated in her home as a close contact of a Covid-positive family member. She says “it is helpful to know you are not alone”.
“Once a family member is detected to be positive, the immediate response is to be anxious,” she says. But Kulkarni reminds us that “human beings are designed to cope with crises”.
Here’s what to do if you test positive and need to isolate.
The environment
Once you receive a positive diagnosis, positive cases should “immediately isolate yourself at your home, or other accommodation”, according to Queensland Health.
“Isolate means you need to stay away from other people as much as possible so you don’t give the virus to someone else.
“People living in your house can quarantine at home in a separate area to you. It is still important that you isolate as much as possible from these people so that you don’t give them Covid-19 if they haven’t already caught it,” the advice states.
If you cannot safely isolate in your home, public health departments in all states and territories offer special health accommodation in some circumstances.
Health authorities advise Covid-positive cases to use a separate bathroom if available, or clean a shared bathroom after each use.
Wearing a mask inside your home is also important, especially when entering a room you are sharing with others, according to NSW Health.
Ventilating common spaces, such as by opening windows, can also reduce the risk of transmission.
The rules
On 30 December, national cabinet agreed to new isolation rules for positive Covid-19 cases.
Under the new arrangement, a confirmed case must isolate for seven days from the date they took the test swab that confirmed their infection. They should not leave isolation if they are still symptomatic.
The supplies
Public health advice stresses the need to organise for your food and medication supplies to be delivered to you without contact, whether that be from a friend, family member or delivery service.
The government recommends widely available painkillers for treating mild symptoms, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen.
Kulkarni’s shopping list for a week of Covid isolation inside the home includes disposable gloves and surgical masks.
She recalls “feeling really exhausted, and not knowing why you’re exhausted”.
“So take hot showers, drink lots of tea, and get lots of rest.”
Dr Jenny H Martin, a practising physician and clinical pharmacologist of the University of Newcastle, says “staying well hydrated” is helpful to manage symptoms and discomfort. “People find it difficult to drink water, so Hydralyte is helpful.”
Kulkarni says organising the “bits and pieces” of receiving grocery deliveries, or care-packages dropped off by friends, is another consideration.
Watching physical health
Care guidelines are changing as states and territories respond to the Omicron outbreak, but public health advice is fairly consistent. According to Queensland Health, the general rule is that people who are well or have mild symptoms should stay at home for their illness.
“Only call Triple Zero (000) or go to an emergency department if you have severe symptoms,” the authority recommends.
In a person with underlying, compromising health conditions, symptoms may be more severe.
According to the federal government’s healthdirect website, these are the more severe symptoms you should watch for, that indicate you need to go to the hospital:
your oxygen level is 92% or less when you test using the pulse oximeter, even if you feel okay
worsening shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
blue lips or face
pain or pressure in the chest
cold and clammy, or pale and mottled, skin
fainting or collapse
being more confused
becoming difficult to wake up
little or no urine (wee) output – less urine than usual, even though you have been drinking lots of fluid
coughing up blood
Kulkarni also suggests close contacts who may share the home with a Covid-positive person “keep an eye on transmission” with rapid antigen tests “for peace of mind”.
Remembering mental health
“A person in isolation can feel totally cut off,” Kulkarni says. “The cleanliness factor gets hyped up, and it needs to be. But looking after mental health is important.”
She says keeping up communication while in isolation is “really critical”.
To feel connected to people while in isolation, Merhi video called with friends and watched movies over the phone with her partner. She says she was “lucky” to have a balcony.
“It made it a lot easier to self-isolate. I could actually get fresh air. It was easier on my sanity.”
Martin suggests making a list of friends and family to get in touch with, and “working through that list of people each day”.
“Some people do yoga, others make at-home gyms with milk bottles filled with water,” she says. “The isolation seems like the hardest thing – just sitting in your room, counting down the hours.
“So it doesn’t really matter, you just have to be engaging in something.”
The aftermath
After the infectious period has ended, “do not disturb the room or bathroom for a day”, Martin says.
“Let it settle. Then wear a mask and gloves, and clean all surfaces with disinfectant.”
Kulkarni says that, amid a time of “consideration and changes”, it is important to keep abreast of health rules in your state.
“We are in some ways in a middle ground,” she says. “Omicron appears to be a milder illness, particularly in those vaccinated. That is encouraging.”
At the same time, however, people remain concerned. “Particularly when you see stories from overseas of long Covid, and events need to be cancelled.”
Critical to balancing this, she says, is getting “focused and practical” about a Covid positive result, and being prepared for isolation.
