With COVID isolation rules largely gone, some people feel pressure to quickly return to work, school, or other activities after testing positive for COVID.
If your symptoms are mild, you may be tempted to continue working (remotely) during your infection and quickly return to your regular exercise program to stay in shape.
But while we may be used to recovering quickly after other viruses, we need to be more cautious with COVID. In addition to the risk of transmission, overexertion can exacerbate and prolong the symptoms of COVID.
Pushing too hard can set you back
clinical guidelines recommend get enough rest when you are diagnosed with COVID. Pushing yourself too hard too soon during your recovery from your initial COVID infection can slow your progress.
While around four in five people with COVID have mild illness and recover within a monthfor others, it can take up to a few months or even longer.
When people have symptoms such as fatigue and/or shortness of breath for three months or more, this is called long covid. Up to 89% of people with long experience with COVID post-exertional malaisewhere excessive physical or mental activity exacerbates symptoms such as fatigue and causes new symptoms such as pain and anxiety.
So you’ve tested positive for COVID. How can you tell if you are well enough to return to your normal routine?
Here are five tips:
1) Take your time
If you’re feeling sick, use your paid leave entitlements, if you have them, even for a day or two to relax and unwind.
While it can be tempting to return to work quickly after COVID, avoid coming to work for at least seven days if you work in a high risk environment such as health, disability and care of the elderly. For other workers, it is a good idea to isolate yourself until your symptoms resolve.
Read more:
How should we handle COVID without rules? Keep testing and stay home when positive
If you feel fatigued but want to get back to work, you may be able to start with a half day or work for a few hours and then build up to your usual workload.
2) Pace, plan and prioritize
Pacing, planning and prioritizing are important while you are still experiencing COVID symptoms:
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pace yourself by breaking activities into smaller, more manageable tasks with rest in between
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plan your activities in advance
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Prioritize what you need to do over what you would like to do.
Pexels/Sarah Chai
If you are battling fatigue while recovering from COVID, a referral to a occupational therapist o The physical therapist can provide additional strategies to manage this symptom.
3) Wait until you are symptom free for 7 days to exercise
You may feel ready to start exercising after your symptoms subside, but to avoid overexertion, it’s important to wait until you’ve been free of any COVID symptoms for at least seven days.
Start with light-intensity exercises, where you can breathe easily, carry on a conversation, and feel like you can keep going for hours—for 10 to 15 minutes to start.
Only return to exercise if you feel recovered from the previous day’s exercises, without a new onset or worsening of symptoms such as fatigue and pain.
4) Ask for help
If you are experiencing more significant symptoms of COVID, consider tying up your friends and family. They may be entitled to paid caregiver leave or even two days of unpaid caregiver leave for casual workers if they need to care for someone with COVID.
If you are having difficulty managing your health and other financial pressures, contact your financial institution to discuss payment plans.
If you work in a high-risk environment, such as health, disability, and elder care, you may also be entitled to additional government support to help you during the time you are unable to work due to COVID.
Pexels/Andrew Neel
5) Know when to see your healthcare provider
If you are over 70 (or over 50 with additional risks, or Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander over 30 with additional risks), talk to your GP about antiviral drugs as soon as you test positive for COVID. Antivirals reduce the chance that severe COVID will require hospitalization and are ideally taken within five days of diagnosis.
If you are managing COVID at home, use a symptom checker to see if you need medical advice for your condition.
Read more:
6 steps to make a COVID plan, before you get sick
If you have ongoing symptoms after your initial COVID infection, make an appointment with your doctor to monitor your condition and refer you to other health professionals, when appropriate, to help with symptom management.
While there are currently no medications to treat COVID symptoms such as fatigue, exercise-based healthcare professionals such as physical therapists can establish an exercise program and progress accordingly to reduce fatigue and help with breathlessness.
Mahatma Gandhi was right when he said that “good health is true wealth”, so be kind to yourself when you recover from COVID.
