What We Know

You get COVID-19 from droplets when a person coughs or sneezes. You also get it from saliva and mucus. You can get it from touching a surface that was recently touched by a person with COVID-19.

Tips for Safe Sex

• You are your safest sex partner; masturbation is always safe sex.
• Wash your hands or any sex toys with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after.
• If you live with a partner, check-in first and make sure you are both feeling well before sex.

Be Careful

• Kissing can pass COVID-19. Consider not kissing anyone you do not know or who you are not sure has been isolated for 14 days.
• Rimming, or any sexual activity that involves putting the mouth on the butt/anus, might pass COVID-19. The virus has been found in feces.
• Condoms and dental dams may reduce contact with saliva or feces during oral or anal sex.
• Only have sex or kiss if both partners are feeling well. Do not engage in sexual activity with anyone experiencing the symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, shortness of breath). Sex and close contact will be waiting for you when you are feeling better.

Seek Care If You Are Sick

If you or your partner are experiencing the symptoms of COVID-19, call your health care provider.

COVID-19 vaccines allow us to more safely engage in relationships, sex and everything in between! Practice these strategies to protect yourself and your partners from COVID-19.

• The virus spreads by infected saliva, mucus, or respiratory particles being inhaled or entering the eyes, nose, or mouth
• The virus can spread during sex since sex can involve close heavy breathing and contact with saliva.
• There is no evidence the virus spreads through semen or vaginal fluid, though the virus has been found in the semen of people who have COVID-19.
• The risk of spreading the virus through feces (poop) is thought to be low, though the virus has been found in the feces of people who have COVID-19. Research is needed to know if the virus can spread through sexual activities involving oral contact with feces (such as rimming).

Get vaccinated

• COVID-19 vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and your partners from COVID-19 illness, hospitalization and death, including from more contagious variants of the virus.
  • Visit vaccinefinder.nyc.gov or call 877-VAX-4NYC (877-829-4692) to find a vaccination site. Vaccination is free, safe and effective.
• People who are fully vaccinated (at least two weeks have passed since they got a single-dose vaccine or the second dose of a two-dose vaccine) can more safely go on dates, make out and have sex.
• Even if you are fully vaccinated, get tested for COVID-19 if you have symptoms or were recently exposed to someone with COVID-19. If you test positive, avoid having sex and close contact with others until your isolation period ends. For more information on COVID-19 testing, visit nyc.gov/health/coronavirus and click on “Testing.”

Follow precautions if you or your partners are not fully vaccinated, are immunocompromised, are age 65 and older, have a health condition that increases the risk of severe COVID-19 or live with someone from one of these groups.

Before you hook up, talk about:

• Vaccination status. If you or your partner is fully vaccinated, you areat lower risk.
• Recent COVID-19 testing. If positive, avoid sex and close contact. If negative, keep in mind a test only shows if a person may have been infected when they were tested.
• Recent COVID-19 infection. Someone who had COVID-19 is unlikely to get it again within three months.
• Recent COVID-19 exposure. Close contact with others should be avoided for 10 days after an exposure.
• COVID-19 precautions. Being intimate with people who wear a face mask and follow other COVID-19 precautions is a safer way to go.

Play safer.

• Avoid sex parties and other gatherings. If you do attend, follow COVID-19 precautions.
  • Visit nyc.gov/covidtest or call 311 to find a testing site (many sites offer testing at no cost).
• Limit your sex partners to people you live with or who are in your social bubble.
• Enjoy sex virtually, such as video dates, sexting, sexy Zoom parties or chat rooms.
• Avoid kissing anyone you do not live with or who is not in your social bubble.
• Wear a face covering or mask, even during sex! Maybe it’s your thing, maybe it’s not, but wearing a face covering over your nose and mouth adds a layer of protection.
• Make it kinky. Be creative with sexual positions and physical barriers, like walls, that allow sexual contact while preventing close face-to-face contact.
• Masturbate together. Use distance and face coverings to reduce the risk.
• Use condoms and dental dams to reduce contact with saliva, semen or feces during oral or anal sex or rimming.
• Wash up before and after sex. Wash hands and sex toys with soap and warm water. Disinfect keyboards and touch screens you share with others.

• Skip sex if you or your partner is not feeling well.
  • If you or a partner think that you may have or have been diagnosed with COVID-19, avoid sex and close contact.
  • If you are not feeling well, you may be getting sick. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, and shortness breath.
  • If you or your partner are over the age of 50 or have a medical condition that puts you at higher risk for and more severe infection (including heart disease, lung disease, diabetes or a weakened immune system such as cancer or unsuppressed HIV) from COVID-19, you may want to avoid sex if you do not live together.
• Condoms and dental dams can reduce contact with saliva, feces, and semen.
• Rimming (mouth on anus) might spread COVID-19. Virus in feces may enter your mouth.
• Don’t forget about a sexual wellness plan to prevent HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unplanned pregnancy.
  • HIV: Condoms, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and having an undetectable viral load all help prevent HIV.
  • Other STIs: Condoms help prevent other STIs. If you are concerned that you have an STI or you are having symptoms of an STI, call your health care provider.
  • Pregnancy: Make sure you have an effective form of birth control for the coming weeks, if you’re not planning to become pregnant.