COVID-19 Testing After The Holiday

If you traveled for Thanksgiving and didn't follow coronavirus safety guidelines, you've got a few more days before a test can show if you did or did not catch the virus.

If you traveled for thanksgiving and didn't follow coronavirus safety guidelines -- you've got a few more days before a test can show if you did or did not catch the virus.

Waay-31's bridget divers spoke to an infectious disease expert about what you can do to keep yourself and others safe until you know.

Bridget?

Dan, najahe -- it's been four days since thanksgiving, and if you think you might have contracted the virus you need to avoid other people as much as possible - starting now.

Hafsa siddiqui/ infectious disease expert "after any exposure a person should wait 7 days minimum before they can go ahead and get themselves tested."

Doctor siddiqui is an infectious disease specialist at huntsville hospital.

And she says people are more likely to contract the virus around family and friends.

"people should be cautious about being with family and friends because people tend not to wear their masks and tend not to have social distancing when you're among the family and friends.

So, you do have higher chance of acquisition of infection with family and friends."

And if you were exposed to coronavirus over the holiday weekend and you're waiting those seven days to get tested, you should minimize contact with others.

"ideally they should be not going to big gatherings and whenever they go out or for people who were not in big gatherings, they should avoid the contact.

On average the huntsville hospital system is conducting six-hundred coronavirus tests a day.

But on the weekends coronavirus testing slows down.

"over the weekends it's a little bit slow because of the fever and flu clinic on the governor's drive is closed.

So, we have less number of tests that we need to run."

Doctors and nurses expect coronavirus cases to increase over the next two weeks because of thanksgiving gatherings.

And they've been seeing a rise in cases after holidays and big social gatherings over the course of the pandemic.

Live in hunstville, bridget divers, waay-31 news.

Thanks bridget.

We know more than 1.1-million people went through airport security yesterday.

That's the most since the pandemic began.

You can do your part to help stop the spread of coronavirus by wearing your mask, social distancing,