COVID-19 Dashboard and Key Terms

  1. Key COVID-19 signs and symptoms are: Fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, new loss of taste or smell. There are other more nonspecific signs and symptoms. For a full list, see CDC web page

  2. Close contact: Spending at least 15 minutes within 6 feet of a person with confirmed COVID-19. Exception: In the K–12 indoor classroom setting, the close contact definition excludes students who were within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student if both the infected student and the exposed student(s) correctly and consistently wore well-fitting masks the entire time. This exception does not apply to teachers, staff, or other adults in the indoor classroom setting. See CDC web page

  3. Contact tracing: A public health intervention in which the contacts of a person with a communicable disease are identified, and possibly tested, quarantined or isolated to interrupt the transmission of the virus in a population. https://portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus/ContaCT

  4. Quarantine: If you have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, unless you have been fully vaccinated. People who are fully vaccinated do NOT need to quarantine after contact with someone who had COVID-19 unless they have symptoms. However, fully vaccinated people should get tested 3-5 days after their exposure.
    Isolation: Is used to separate people infected with COVID-19 from those who are not infected. People who are in isolation should stay home until it’s safe for them to be around others. At home, anyone sick or infected should separate from others, stay in a specific “sick room” or area, and use a separate bathroom (if available)
    See CDC web page on Quarantine and Isolation

  5. Vaccination: COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting individuals from getting sick and are currently the primary strategy for battling COVID-19. In general, an individual is considered vaccinated 2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or 2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine. See CDC web page