{"id":2099,"date":"2023-05-25T11:08:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T15:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/?page_id=2099"},"modified":"2025-10-29T12:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:30:10","slug":"covid-19-flu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/covid-19-flu\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral Respiratory Illness Guidance: COVID-19 &#038; Flu"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Healthcare Providers &#8211; Please Note:<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>If you are a <strong>healthcare provider<\/strong> and regularly provide <strong>in-person patient care<\/strong>, <span data-contrast=\"auto\">you may return to work:<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Symptomatic Staff:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Must isolate and may return to work <u>after 3 days have passed since symptom onset <strong>AND<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/u>\n<ul>\n<li>At least 24 hours fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medications.<\/li>\n<li>Improvement in respiratory symptoms<u>\u00a0and feel well enough to work.<\/u><\/li>\n<li>Masking required through Day 7 (With Day 0 being the first day of symptoms)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Asymptomatic Exposure:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Staff may continue working with masking and symptom monitoring<u>\u00a0for 5 days after exposure,<\/u>\u00a0unless symptoms develop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Masking:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Universal masking is encouraged during periods of high community transmission or outbreaks within facilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vaccination Policy:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>For COVID-19 and Flu vaccination policy, please click the link: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/covid-19-flu\/covid-19-vaccination-policy\/\">HERE<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\" xml:lang=\"EN\" lang=\"EN\" class=\"TextRun SCXW104906836 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW104906836 BCX0\">If you are a HCP at a facility outside of BU, please check with your facility for return-to-work guidelines. For more information, please visit: <\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/info-details\/covid-19-public-health-guidance-and-directives#health-care-professionals-\">https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/info-details\/covid-19-public-health-guidance-and-directives#health-care-professionals-<\/a><\/p>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<h4><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>General Population Guidance:<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>If you are <strong>not<\/strong> a healthcare provider<span data-contrast=\"auto\">:<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you test positive, <span data-contrast=\"none\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\">you <\/span><\/span><a class=\"Hyperlink SCXW215619192 BCX0\" href=\"http:\/\/isolation%20guidelines.\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span class=\"FieldRange SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><\/span><\/a><span class=\"TrackedChange SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span data-contrast=\"none\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\">should stay<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"TrackedChange SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span data-contrast=\"none\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\"> home to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses and follow Massachusetts Department of Public Health <\/span><\/span><\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun EmptyTextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><\/span><a class=\"Hyperlink SCXW215619192 BCX0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/info-details\/staying-home-to-prevent-the-spread-of-respiratory-viruses#if-you-test-positive-for-covid-19-(isolate)-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun Underlined EmptyTextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><\/span><span class=\"FieldRange SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span class=\"TrackedChange SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span data-contrast=\"none\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\" data-ccp-charstyle=\"Hyperlink\">guidelines<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span class=\"TrackedChange SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span data-contrast=\"none\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215619192 BCX0\">.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>You may return to work:\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"TrackedChange SCXW18999593 BCX0\"><span data-contrast=\"none\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW18999593 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18999593 BCX0\">When you have not had a fever for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medicines, <strong>AND<\/strong> your other symptoms are improving, you can resume normal activities with precautions. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"TrackedChange SCXW18999593 BCX0\"><span data-contrast=\"none\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW18999593 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW18999593 BCX0\">For at least the 5 days after you resume normal activities, you should wear a mask around others, especially when you are in crowded indoor spaces. You should continue to wash your hands with soap and water and avoid spending time with people who are at increased risk for severe disease.<\/span><\/span><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" lang=\"EN-US\" class=\"TextRun Underlined EmptyTextRun SCXW18999593 BCX0\"><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW18999593 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335557856&quot;:16777215,&quot;335559737&quot;:-20,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:375,&quot;335559740&quot;:279}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Healthcare Providers &#8211; Please Note: If you are a healthcare provider and regularly provide in-person patient care, you may return to work:\u00a0\u00a0 Symptomatic Staff: Must isolate and may return to work after 3 days have passed since symptom onset AND:\u00a0 At least 24 hours fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medications. Improvement in respiratory symptoms\u00a0and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21006,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2099"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2366,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2099\/revisions\/2366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buohc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}