Abstract SARS-CoV-2 viral load and detection of infectious virus in the respiratory tract are the two key parameters for estimating infectiousness. As shedding of infectious virus is required for onward transmission, understanding shedding characteristics is relevant for public health interventions. Viral shedding is influenced by biological characteristics of the virus, […]
The capacity of SARS-CoV-2 to infect people from aerosol droplets wanes quickly over time, according to UK researchers. A study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, found infectivity of the airborne virus fell to around 10%, 20 minutes after being exhaled, with most of the decline taking place in the […]
Rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 might yield false negative results when viral loads are low, but in those cases, the virus may not yet be transmissible, a new study suggests. Researchers performed rapid antigen tests on swab samples from 181 individuals with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections and then tried to culture […]
Asymptomatic infected individuals (and those infected with Alpha) had relatively high viral loads; samples from Alpha cases also had higher probability of viral culture positivity. Determining the infectiousness of individuals with COVID-19 requires considering degree of symptoms, time point within disease course, and whether the infection involves wild-type SARS-CoV-2 or […]
