Testing Positive After A COVID-19 Infection

While we continue to learn about the full impact of COVID-19, it is important we stay vigilant, educated, and ready to pivot as needed.

One question our team at Front Line Mobile Health gets frequently is related to continued positive COVID-19 tests post infection. What does that mean?

Research recently published by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that patients who recovered from COVID-19, but continued to test positive, were, in fact, not infectious.

Additional information, shared by the CDC, dig deeper into this study, indicating that the viral material found in post-infection positive tests was actually dead.

In light of these findings, the CDC’s complete recommendation is as follows:

“Available data indicate that persons with mild to moderate COVID-19 remain infectious no longer than 10 days after symptom onset. Persons with more severe to critical illness or severe immunocompromise likely remain infectious no longer than 20 days after symptom onset.  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.”

At Front Line, we know the importance of the services our public safety professionals provide, and we know it is critical any individual who has been infected, and has recovered, from COVID-19 be allowed to return to work quickly and safely. That is why we stay up to date on the latest available research and have developed a comprehensive post-COVID-19 return-to-work physical evaluation.

To learn more about how we can keep your department and your personnel safe and healthy, contact us today. We are ready to serve.