When a corona disease is over is one thing: How long are you positive, how long are you infectious? And what are the differences? The answers.
The start of a corona infection can often be easily defined. Once the virus has entered the body and begins to multiply, one is considered positive. that you are with Corona infected is usually noticed by the typical corona symptoms or after a corresponding rapid antigen test or PCR test result. But when is one considered recovered?
Corona positive with Omikron: How long are you contagious?
If the corona virus is in the body, the incubation period begins. This can last several days, only then do symptoms appear – but other people can be infected with Sars-Cov-2 before that. With Corona, the incubation period is according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) at an average of about five to six and a half days. But the virus variants differ: The virus variants alpha and delta had an incubation period that was around 1.5-2 days shorter than the so-called wild type, ie the viruses that were circulating in 2020. According to the findings of the RKI, the youngest omicron variants have an incubation period of around three days.
Infected people are most contagious in the days before and after the onset of the first corona symptoms. According to the Federal Center for Health Education, the contagiousness decreases significantly after a mild to moderate illness about ten days after the onset of the symptoms. However, those affected can also be contagious for much longer: for example, if the disease was severe or there is an immune deficiency. Ultimately, however, the end of the contagion period varies from person to person.
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That depends entirely on which definition of “positive” you look at: Because depending on the area – for example from a medical point of view or according to the Corona regulation – the duration of how long you are considered positive differs.
Omicron variant: how long is one positive?
Cambridge researchers have found that omicron gives longer positive tests on average. The researchers used nasal swabs to determine the corona variants and viral loads.
Delta infected people were positive for a median of four days (values ranged from three to five days)
For the omicron positives, it took a median of five days (values from three to nine days)
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After an infection was detected – i.e. the PRC test is positive – there was a five-day isolation requirement in all federal states. This no longer applies to Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg since November 16, Schleswig Holstein (11/17) has followed suit, Hesse wants to do it.
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Video: ProSieben
is and will be lifted the obligation to isolate after a positive corona finding.
However, rules still apply here for corona positives: for example, the mask requirement and a ban on entering certain facilities apply.
In the remaining federal states, the quarantine ends after 5 days if you have been symptom-free for at least 48 hours.
A negative test is not mandatory, will be RKI but “strongly recommended”.
On the other hand, negative tests are mandatory for employees in healthcare facilities, old people’s and nursing facilities and outpatient nursing services in order to be able to go back to work. They must have a rapid test or a PCR test with a negative result or a positive result with a CT value above 30. They must have been free of symptoms for 48 hours.
An antigen test is more likely to be positive if the amount of virus, also known as viral load, is high in the nasopharynx. “The viral load is highest one day before the onset of symptoms. By the time the first symptoms appear, it’s already wearing off,” said Dr. Andreas Ambrosch, senior physician of the central laboratory of the Institute for Laboratory Medicine, Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene at the Barmherzige Brüder Hospital in Regensburg.
In the course of the COVID-19 disease, the viral load in the nasopharynx usually decreases quickly. At the latest when the symptoms subside, the rapid test usually shows a negative result.
How long positive? PCR test is no longer negative
In some cases, however, it also happens that the PCR test is not negative even weeks after the disease has subsided. “The fact that PCR tests can still deliver a positive result even weeks after an infection is known and observed very often,” says Sandra Ciesek, director of the Institute for Medical Virology at the University Hospital in Frankfurt. The reason for this is the technology behind the PCR tests. This is “very sensitive,” explains the virologist. “Residual amounts of the genetic material of the virus can often still be detected, even if the infection has actually been over for a long time.” So it can also happen that a PCR test is negative, but the next one is weakly positive again. Such weak results would then have to be interpreted. If the amount of virus is low and the infection is known to have subsided, one can assume that the person is no longer contagious despite a weakly positive PCR test.
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