Worry about shedding the virus

[Teaching3bears]

I heard an epidemiologist on tv say that they have found that some people shed the virus up to 100 days after recovering and you should stay 6 feet away from anyone who has ever had it these past months because you can catch it. If this is the case why are we only asking people to quarantine for 2 weeks? I found this very disturbing. Is there an accurate test to see if someone is shedding?

[Ailaena]

1 hour ago, square_25 said:

Haven’t heard that! Is that active virus or just bits of genetic material?

looks like afTer that amount of time it is primarily RNA fragments (studies linked in article).  

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/05/evidence-prolonged-covid-19-virus-shedding-noted-china
 

The regular PCR test will show active if you are still shedding, but it doesn’t differentiate between RNA and RNA fragments.  Maybe 100 days is an outlier, I see 20-30 as an outside.   Is somebody shedding after 30 days just as infectious as an active case?   Probably not due to viral load, but..?

Edited August 4, 2020 by Ailaena

[Teaching3bears]

My understanding was that "shedding" meant they could transmit and that is why he said to stay 6 feet away from them.

[Pen]

52 minutes ago, Teaching3bears said:

I heard an epidemiologist on tv say that they have found that some people shed the virus up to 100 days after recovering and you should stay 6 feet away from anyone who has ever had it these past months because you can catch it. If this is the case why are we only asking people to quarantine for 2 weeks? I found this very disturbing. Is there an accurate test to see if someone is shedding?

 

Not familiar with what you heard.

you should be doing 6 feet physical distancing and wearing mask etc in general

 

2 week quarantine is for people exposed

 

people positive are supposed to isolate...

  rules on that have been changing or unclear   ...  

(probably due to research Plum linked above) uk recently extended from 7 days isolation to 10    

Or in some places rules have been 1-3 days after symptoms resolve if symptomatic     — so long haulers have had long isolation (in Australia I think ?) 

At other times and places or circumstances 2 or 3 negative tests have been required 

Goal has been to pick up / stop transmission from (quarantine / isolate) the majority — not outliers  (and rules can change as information changes - or also perhaps if virus itself changes) 

research institutions can probably figure out if someone is shedding infectious virus  (even if it would take experiments like exposing susceptible  lab animals ) but it is not something that most people will have access to

Edited August 4, 2020 by Pen

[Pen]

 

29 minutes ago, Ailaena said:

but it doesn’t differentiate between DNA and RNA fragments.  

It’s an RNA virus

 

[Ailaena]

17 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

It’s an RNA virus

 

yes, sorry, “differentiate between active, viral RNA and the RNA fragments found in shedding.”   Thank you!

[mathnerd]

 Recovered persons can continue to shed detectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA in upper respiratory specimens for up to 3 months after illness onset, albeit at concentrations considerably lower than during illness, in ranges where replication-competent virus has not been reliably recovered and infectiousness is unlikely. The etiology of this persistently detectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA has yet to be determined. Studies have not found evidence that clinically recovered persons with persistence of viral RNA have transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to others. These findings strengthen the justification for relying on a symptom based, rather than test-based strategy for ending isolation of these patients, so that persons who are by current evidence no longer infectious are not kept unnecessarily isolated and excluded from work or other responsibilities.

source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/duration-isolation.html

 

[Ausmumof3]

I think this is still a little bit in the not 100pc sure category.  Virus particles or whatever they are taken from people after 12 days or so don’t seem to be able to grow (or be cultured or whatever the right term is) so are most likely not infectious.  But as with surfaces there’s a little bit of doubt because it can be hard to grow or culture them in a lab anyway.  But they think most likely not.

this is just my personal thing but also I think the amount of virus is probably quite low by that point even if it was still viable and less virus seems to mean less severe Illness.