Coronavirus Patients Could Still Be Contagious Despite Symptoms Resolving
A study has revealed that some COVID-19 patients could still be contagious despite all of their symptoms resolving.
According to the NY Post, patients could still be contagious for up to eight days after they believe they have fully recovered.
A study from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine notes that these patients still carried the disease despite making a recovery. The researchers examined 16 patients from Beijing and made the discovery.
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“The most significant finding from our study is that half of the patients kept shedding the virus even after resolution of their symptoms,” Dr. Lokesh Sharma from the Yale School of Medicine said.
Most of the patients still had the virus in their system for at least two days, with some ranging up to eight, thus they encouraged them to continue to self-isolate as they could still pass on the virus.
“This information can provide useful tool for clinicians and policymakers to ensure that recovered patients do not spread the virus,” researchers said.
“If you had mild respiratory symptoms from COVID-19 and were staying at home so as not to infect people, extend your quarantine for another two weeks after recovery to ensure that you don’t infect other people,” said Dr. Lixin Xie of the Chinese PLA General Hospital.
The researchers did note that their study was limited to the epicenter of the outbreak.
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