WISCONSIN (NBC 26) -- The positive cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin have been decreasing. But now, four days after Thanksgiving, doctors are warning that another surge could be coming our way.
After a spike in travel during the Thanksgiving holiday, Doctors say an uptick in COVID-19 cases is likely to follow.
"Inevitably we're going to see a rise in cases related to the Thanksgiving Day holiday," says Dr. Brad Burmeister an Emergency Physician with Bellin Health.
Dr. Burmeister says if you met up with people from outside your household during the holiday, you should be extra diligent with hand washing, social distancing and mask-wearing for a couple of weeks.
"Right now, we have the recommendation that people really try to only go out for essential activities."
And while many won't know if they were exposed to the virus over the holiday, Doctors say if you find out that you may have been, you'll want to wait 5 to 7 days after the exposure before getting tested to avoid getting a false negative result.
"We think that's going to give you an optimal amount of time for that virus to infect you and start replicating in your airways where we detect COVID-19."
Many people start experiencing symptoms about a week or two after being exposed. But doctors say it's not just the folks who congregated for the holiday contributing to the spread, but really the community, as a whole after the fact.
"The spike isn't just going to be the result of that (Thanksgiving congregation). Instead, those people who have been exposed, that don't know their positive going into other situations. And it kind of just blossoms from there," says Dr. Ashok Rai the President and CEO of Prevea Health.
Dr. Rai encourages anyone with any type of symptoms, to get tested for COVID-19. Especially if someone you met with over the holiday is starting to feel under the weather.
"Mid-week, maybe Thursday would be a good time to get tested. If you have symptoms before that get tested right away."
It will likely be weeks, possibly even a month or longer before doctors see if the holiday contributed to more COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin. But doctors say if everyone continues doing their part, we can get a handle on this pandemic.
"I just recommend that people continue to be really aggressive with following the public health measures," says Dr. Burmeister.
"Any kind of symptom get tested. Get tested, get tested, get tested," adds Dr. Rai.
