• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Tiredness
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Stuffy or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

Symptoms may vary depending on whether you have gotten the vaccine.

Symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after you are exposed to the virus. If you have any of these symptoms, consider getting tested. Learn more about testing and find your nearest location.

Isolation and Exposure Guidelines

You should stay home and away from others when you have a respiratory virus. This includes COVID-19. Please follow recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For general public settings:

• You can return to normal activities 24 hours after your symptoms have improved. You should be fever-free without medication.
• Once you go back to normal activities, consider wearing a mask and keeping your distance from others for the next 5 days.

For healthcare settings, after your symptoms have improved and you have been fever-free without medication:

• You should not visit or accompany a patient for at least 5 more days.
• You should wear a mask for at least 10 days.

COVID-19 Vaccination Information and Availability

Everyone 6 months and older should get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Northwestern Medicine offers the Pfizer-BioNTech 2024 – 2025 COVID-19 vaccine.

Learn more about availability.