3 ms·
Is there any proof/evidence that people who recovered from COVID and tested negative can still spread the virus? The article lacks any references on that.
by dgudkov 6y ago
Is there any proof/evidence that people who recovered from COVID and tested negative can still spread the virus? The article lacks any references on that.
- jccooper 6y agoAny test will have false negatives, and there's indication that the false negative for the COVID RT-PCR test is really quite high. A negative test should not be considered probative. COVID-19 is not known to persist for a long time, however, and lingering symptoms are not necessarily a sign of lingering infection. Most likely they are a result of damage rather than illness, or perhaps ongoing immune response.
- cameldrv 6y agoYes but the FN rate varies strongly with the viral load in the sample. If you are shedding a lot of virus you will almost always test positive. It’s possible for someone to have it in their body and test negative, but if it’s coming up PCR negative it’s very unlikely that you’ll spread it. Of course, this applies on the day of the test. If you just contracted it, you might test negative and then the viral load goes way up and you spread it a couple of days later.