How Does Framingham Determine Someone Has Recovered From COVID-19?

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FRAMINGHAM – Since the pandemic began this year, the City of Framingham has reported 2,367 cases of the virus as of Friday, October 9.

Also as of Friday, 2,077 individuals have recovered from the virus or almost 88% of those inflicted with the virus. But there have also been 137 deaths.

But what does that mean recovered? How it is determined someone has recovered from the coronavirus? SOURCE asked the City’s Public Health Nurse Kitty Mahoney that question.

Recovered was a “bit of a moving target early in the crisis.”

Mahoney said the City of Framingham always and has always followed the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) guidelines on recovery which is ” “10 days after the test” for someone with no symptoms.

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If they have symptoms, explained mahoney, “recovery is at least 10 days after the first symptom with symptom improvement, fever free without using fever reducing medications.”

Mahoney said she and the City’s contact tracing nurses “speak with the person about how they have been feeling and then use that information to move forward with and determine when it is appropriate to close the case and mark them recovered.”

She stressed that the “MDPH has very specific guidelines on this.”

She said there are only three outcomes after someone is positive for COVID-19. They are “Unknown, Died,or Recovered.”

“We know that some have symptoms can persist for weeks or longer, but that does not mean the person is still infectious. There is still a lot to learn about the course this novel virus takes,” added Mahoney.

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