> The real problem is that scientists aren't studying the thing that really matter now for 99% of the population, which is: > 1) When is someone with COVID no

> The real problem is that scientists aren't studying the thing that really matter now for 99% of the population, which is: > 1) When is someone with COVID no longer contagious so they can return back to school/work? From September 2023 paper linked below: ...numbers of exhaled SARS-CoV-2 RNA copies during COVID-19 infection do not decrease significantly until day 8 from symptom-onset. COVID-19-positive participants exhaled an average of 80 SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA copies per minute during the first 8 days of infection, with significant variability both between and within individuals, including spikes over 800 copies a minute in some patients. After day 8, there was a steep drop to levels nearing the limit of detection, persisting for up to 20 days. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.06.23295138v1.full.pdf https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.06.23295138v... > fearmongering Should catching COVID in a 20 seconds elevator ride concern anyone? Our findings can be used to demonstrate future feasibility of estimating the amount of time it takes for an individual to exhale an infectious dose of SARS-CoV-2: For example, assuming a conservative estimate of infectious dose for COVID-19 of 300 virions (35, 36), a person exhaling 900 viral RNA copies per minute (as did peak shedders in our study) could be conservatively estimated to exhale an infectious dose in around 20 seconds (not safe for an elevator ride), whereas a person who is exhaling 10 viral copies per minute could be estimated to exhale an infectious dose in over 30 minutes (probably ok for an elevator ride) (37). Along these same lines, once the relationship between exhaled viral RNA and replication-competent virus is established, if combined with rapid SARS-CoV-2 detection methods, our device could be used to assist in development of an at-home infectiousness test. Of course, it depends. So the key takeaway is that a device that would help with your first question seems possible.