Even after the fever has broken, the cold has dried up, the official five-day quarantine period has expired and the 10-day precautionary phase is over, some people are still tested positive for Covid – although I’m totally fine.
If you find yourself in this situation, you may be wondering what to do, especially since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers little specific guidance on the subject. It’s difficult to know exactly how many people are affected — most people do self-tests at home, so their results aren’t tracked — but a study ahead of vaccinating schoolchildren in Florida in 2020 found that 8, 2% of high school kids have still tested positive. 14 days after their first positive tests.
Even small percentages can affect millions of people as the total number of cases in the country continues to rise: The US has surpassed 85.7 million total Covid cases since the pandemic began, likely an undercount due to those which are at home exams.
Here’s what you need to know about the phenomenon and what to do if it happens to you:
What to do if you continue to test positive after 10 days
A positive test for Covid does not necessarily mean you are contagious. Rapid tests detect specific protein parts of the virus, but these proteins alone do not cause infection. The same goes for PCR tests, which identify the virus’ genetic material in your system.
To find out if positive tests mean people are contagious, scientists grow samples from those tests in petri dishes to see if more viruses can grow, indicating they’re still alive and contagious. A recent Boston University study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, used this technique and found that just 17% of people were likely still contagious six days after their first positive test.
Unfortunately, there is currently no way of knowing which category you belong to. But most experts say that as long as your symptoms are gone, you probably don’t need to isolate anymore.
The CDC recommends isolating for five days after the first positive test and stopping quarantine as long as you have been fever-free for 24 hours and your symptoms are improving. The agency’s guidance adds that you should continue to wear a mask until day 10 – essentially a precautionary measure in case you’re still contagious.
dr Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, says she would “feel very comfortable” if a symptom-free person showed up after five days of isolation, even if they still tested positive for Covid.
“Follow the CDC’s instructions and wear a mask for the next five days,” she says.
dr Wilbur Lam, a professor of pediatrics and biomedical engineering who led Emory University’s initiative to test Covid-19 diagnostics for the US government, specifically recommends avoiding contact with anyone who may have a compromised immune system or wearing a mask bear the risk if this is not possible.
“Scientists, including our own center, are really trying to figure out what are the variables that can influence why you get consistently positive on rapid tests and what the implications are from both a biological and a health perspective,” he says.
What a positive test lasting more than 10 days could mean for your long-term health
Last month, the CDC issued an alarming warning that up to one in five adult COVID-19 survivors can develop long covid, possibly with long-term symptoms ranging from fatigue and brain fog to circulatory and digestive problems. Women, the elderly, and those with chronic conditions all appear to be at higher risk.
Covid isn’t the only pathogen that can cause such problems: Dr. Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University, Shreveport, notes that other viruses, such as human papillomavirus, can also wreak havoc in the body weeks or even years after the initial infection.
More than 10 days of positive tests is not a known risk factor for long Covid, but it does raise questions about where the virus might be staying. Some viruses are known to hide in tissues that aren’t causing symptoms — such as fat cells or the gut — before reappearing once they think the air is clear.
Incidentally, this is a theory as to why some people test positive for Covid for longer than 10 days – but for now it’s just a theory. Experts stress that if you continue to test positive after a week and a half, you probably have nothing to worry about: the precautions are important, but you are unlikely to harm yourself or those around you by ending your isolation.
That will remain true unless further research proves otherwise.
“I would just say we just don’t know enough to be concerned at all,” says Lam. “There are so many things in life to worry about, this doesn’t have to be one of them.”
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