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HealthInfo West Coast-Te Tai Poutini

Quarantine & isolation

Mohoaotanga me nōhanga taratahi

Quarantine and isolation mean staying at home and avoiding contact with anyone other than those who live in your home. You may be put in quarantine or isolation if you have an infectious disease. Staying at home prevents you passing the disease on to other people.

You may also be put in quarantine or isolation if you have been (or may have been) exposed to an infectious disease even though you do not have any symptoms. With many infectious diseases, you are infectious before you get any symptoms.

The importance of quarantine and isolation

It is important to avoid passing on infectious diseases to other people for several reasons.

Length of isolation

The time you need to stay in isolation varies with different diseases. Your general practice team or public health team will tell you how long it needs to be.

What to do if you are in isolation

Stay away from other people

Be careful not to spread germs

Take care of yourself

Family members

Talk to your doctor about whether your whānau need to stay in isolation with you or if they can continue to go to work, school and so on.

Tell your doctor if you have elderly, very young or pregnant people living with you. Also tell them if you have people living with you who have compromised immune systems. Or diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease and kidney disease.

Quarantine & isolation plan

You will find it easier to cope with quarantine and isolation if you have prepared for the possibility. You can add the following suggestions to your emergency preparedness plan:

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Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed September 2024.

Sources

Page reference: 617207

Review key: HISNY-105442