But once you're feeling a bit better, it's surprisingly hard to know when you're not contagious anymore and, therefore, when it's OK to go back to work and be around other people without risking their health. Not to mention there can also be pressure to get back into things as quickly as possible—Nicole Kidman even showed up to win a Screen Actors Guild Award with the flu this weekend. So, whether you're still pretty symptomatic or you're finally starting to feel better, when are you actually allowed to resume normal activities without getting everyone around you sick?
For one thing, you need your rest. Taxing your body will only make it harder for you to fight the infection.
And then there's the risk to everyone else. People can spread the flu to other people who are up to six feet away from them, the CDC points out on its website. The virus is mainly spread by the droplets made when people with the virus cough, sneeze, or talk. Those droplets can then land in the mouths or noses of nearby people and make them sick. The droplets can also plop on a surface, like, say, a doorknob or counter, and then be picked up by the next unlucky person who happens to touch that spot.
So, if you suspect you have the flu, call your doctor ASAP. They might be able to diagnose you over the phone or they may want you to come in to test for the flu. There are a few types of tests available, per the CDC, including the rapid influenza diagnostic test (which detects parts of the virus that creates an immune response in 10 to 15 minutes) and a rapid molecular assay (which detects genetic material of the virus in 15 to 20 minutes). The rapid influenza diagnostic test is the most commonly used test, but it’s not as accurate as other flu tests, the CDC points out. That said, neither test is perfect, so you could have the flu and still get a negative result. “If a doctor’s suspicion is high for influenza, they shouldn’t rely on test results,” infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the John's Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells SELF.
Depending on how severe your symptoms are, your doctor may prescribe Tamiflu, which can reduce your risk of suffering from flu complications and speed up the amount of time you're sick if you take it early enough. Or they may just advise that you go home, drink lots of fluids, and get plenty of rest.
You'll actually still be contagious for a lot longer than you might realize. According to the CDC, most healthy adults are able to spread the flu to other people for a day before they even have symptoms, and they'll be contagious for up to seven days after they become sick. (Kids can be contagious for even longer than that.) But “everyone is different," Dr. Adalja says. "There’s no set number of days everyone is contagious.”
Doctors usually say that you can go back to work five days after the onset of symptoms and 24 hours after your fever has cleared (provided you feel up to it), Kenton Fibel, M.D., family medicine physician at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Anaheim, Calif., tells SELF.