Coronavirus patients should get retested four weeks after showing symptoms to minimize the risk of spreading the virus, researchers say.
In fact, a new study of roughly 4,500 Italian COVID-19 patients published on Wednesday evening found that it takes 30 days on average for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 infection, to leave the body after the first positive test result. It takes 36 days on average for the virus to clear the body after a person starts showing symptoms.
Indeed, the long-term effects of COVID-19 are only just beginning to come to light, roughly half a year into the pandemic. Some “long hauler” coronavirus patients have continued to suffer symptoms and coronavirus-related health issues for months after their initial infections, including shortness of breath, extreme muscle weakness and fatigue, and brain fog.
The authors fear that the high rate of false negatives, plus the evidence that the virus remains in the body for more than a month, puts COVID-19 patients at risk of “unwittingly passing on the infection” as they return to work or school believing that they are all better. “ The amount of virus a person is carrying, or their viral load, may be too low for that person to be contagious. ”
That’s not to say these standard diagnostic tests should be thrown out the window for being too sensitive, however. The Food and Drug Administration told the Times that when people are first infected with COVID-19, for example, they may also carry a low viral load. And tests that are less sensitive could miss these cases. The CDC also notes that someone could test negative for COVID-19 early in their infection.
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