Treatment, Isolation, and Exposure Guidance

COVID-19 Treatments are free, widely available, and very effective. Treatments work best when taken within 5-7 days of when symptoms begin, so act quickly. Medicines are free regardless of insurance or citizenship status, but you must get a prescription. 

How to find Treatment:

  • If you have insurance, contact your doctor, urgent care, or visit a Test-to-Treat location. Some pharmacies also have COVID treatments.  
  • If you do not have insurance or cannot reach a provider for 24 hours, visit Sesame or Call (833) 686-5051 to make a phone/video appointment with California's free COVID-19 provider.
  • If you need help finding treatment, call the COVID-19 hotline (833) 422-4255

More information can be found at: COVID-19 Treatment - Coronavirus Response (ca.gov) 

If You've Tested Positive for COVID-19: Isolation

Because of the large number of positive COVID-19 cases in our community, those with a positive COVID test may not hear from the Public Health department.

  1. Step 1: If you have tested positive for COVID-19, you need to isolate immediately regardless of your vaccination status.
  2. Step 2: Follow the Guidance on Isolation and Quarantine from CDPH.
    • The above guidance does not apply to congregate living, health care settings or schools. For school guidance, visit the Safe Schools Hub.
  3. Step 3: Identify your close contacts and let them know you tested positive. Share the Guidance on Isolation and Quarantine with them.
    • You are considered infectious two days before your symptoms started. If you are asymptomatic, you are considered infectious two days before the day you took your test. You are considered infectious until your isolation ends.
      Close contacts are everyone who was within 6 feet of you for more than 15 minutes while you were infectious. The 15 minutes are cumulative over 24 hours, so if you are close to someone for 5 minutes three times in one day while infectious, they are a close contact.

Let your employer know if you were infectious while at work. Employers can find resources for workplace exposures here. 

If You Were Exposed to COVID-19

If you were a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19, you must follow the Guidance on Isolation and Quarantine.

CDPH defines a "close contact" as follows:

  1. In indoor spaces of 400,000 or fewer cubic feet per floor (such as homes, clinic waiting rooms, airplanes, etc), close contact is defined as sharing the same indoor airspace for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (for example, three individual three 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes) during an infected person's (confirmed by COVID-19 test or clinical diagnosis) infectious period.
  2. In large indoor spaces greater than 400,000 cubic feet per floor (such as open-floor plan offices, large retail stores, manufacturing, or food processing facilities), close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of the infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period during the infected persons infectious period. 

NOTE: Spaces that are separated by floor-to-ceiling walls (e.g., offices, suites, rooms, waiting areas, bathrooms, or break or eating areas that are separated by floor-to-ceiling walls) must be considered district indoor air spaces. 


More Resources

Workplace Exposures

See our step-by-step instructions for employers who have a workplace COVID-19 exposure