Experts say that the best way to home test is to test twice (or more) once you have symptoms, 48 hours apart. That's two DAYS apart, right? Lots of people test just once when they get symptoms, and consider that test definitive. It isn't. If that one test negative they think they have something other than Covid, but that could be a terrible mistake.
The message here is Don't Trust negative Covid tests before day 5 of feeling symptomatic. If you test negative after feeling sick for 3 days, and spend time with someone who then spends time with an elderly relative, you could conceivably cause the elderly person to die.
This is why the new normal is to stay home if you feel sick. Don't go to work. Don't go be social. Take the opportunity to rest and relax. You know you need it anyway. Take the time and slow the spread.
Oh and by the way I got my bivalent booster 2 days ago and I did not have nearly the massive response that I had to previous vaccines. To me this means that I have not yet had the new variants that they are vaccinating us against. This vaccine is FREE and it's available NOW and I recommend that as many people get it as possible, because it is still our best tool for limiting severe disease and death during the spikes that are going to come this winter.
Go get your bivalent Covid vaccine, says this naturopath. Why does this naturopath say get a vaccine? I don't say you should get all vaccines, I say you should pick and choose. Get this one because it will save a lot of lives. Because the benefits of the previous Covid vaccines far outweigh the risks, according to the science. And believe me, I do look at the science. I am even trained to recognize bogus "science" which is definitely out there.
Should you listen to the CDC? I say yes. They are on the comeback from a period of political distortion and I trust them more now than I did last year.