What to do if someone is sick?

Public Health Agency of Canada: COVID-19: What to do if you or someone in your home is sick

CleanAirCrew: Someone in my home has COVID. How do we isolate safely?

What to do if you get COVID — article by Arijit Chakravarty and T. Ryan Gregory.

Healthy Heating: How to set up an emergency isolation room inside a home or apartment for a suspected infected occupant — article by Robert Bean,
ASHRAE Fellow and Distinguished Lecturer.

It’s airborne: Your guide to stopping COVID in your home

NBC News: What to do if a family member tests positive? How to ‘Covid-proof’ your home

Medical Xpress: New study suggests gargling with salt water may be associated with lower COVID hospitalization — According to a new study, if you gargle with salt water, you can reduce your risk of ending up in a hospital.

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Information about Paxlovid

Note: The Ottawa Hospital page has outdated eligibility criteria for Paxlovid. If you live in Canada, please consult the guidelines for your province.

The Ottawa Hospital: COVID-19 treatment information for providers and prescribers

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Information about metformin

CIDRAP: Common diabetes drug shown to prevent long COVID — A 14-day course of the drug metformin may help prevent long COVID, according to a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The Lancet: Outpatient treatment of COVID-19 and incidence of post-COVID-19 condition over 10 months (COVID-OUT): a multicentre, randomised, quadruple-blind, parallel-group, phase 3 trial — According to a new study published in The Lancet, “Outpatient treatment with metformin reduced long COVID incidence by about 41%.” Participants received metformin for 14 days. “The metformin dose was titrated over 6 days: 500 mg on day 1, 500 mg twice daily on days 2–5, then 500 mg in the morning and 1000 mg in the evening up to day 14.”

medRxiv: Metformin reduces SARS-CoV-2 in a Phase 3 Randomized Placebo Controlled Clinical Trial

Clinical Infectious Diseases: Favorable Antiviral Effect of Metformin on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Viral Load in a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Coronavirus Disease 2019

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Guidelines for treatment of COVID-19 from the National Institutes of Health

In 2020, the U.S. National Institutes of Health assembled a panel of experts to provide recommendations for healthcare providers. It issued the first version of the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines on April 21, 2020. For almost four years, the panel reviewed research data on COVID-19 and used that information to develop recommendations for treating patients. The panel released a total of 72 versions of the Guidelines.

The COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines website was shut down on August 16, 2024. The final version of the guidelines is available here.

 Note: The section entitled “Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Infection” contains outdated information. We now recognize that SARS-CoV-2 is spread via airborne transmission. Wearing a well-fitted N95/FFP2 (or better) respirator is one of the most effective ways you can reduce transmission.