Got COVID-19? There is only one way to find out if you are contagious

Have you been diagnosed with COVID-19 and are wondering when you can come out of isolation so as not to infect other people? It is difficult for many patients to determine how many days after infection is diagnosed, it is possible to return to contact with people. Medical experts’ guidance on when to resume your daily activities varies. American experts talk about five days, Polish ones are more cautious.

1. We don’t need a negative COVID-19 test to complete self-isolation
2. Previously, infectious disease specialists believed that patients should have a negative antigen test that gives results within minutes of completing isolation 
3. Every person and every case of COVID-19 is individual. There are no hard and fast rules that will determine how an infected person will get sick and for how long
4. Antigen tests or PCR? We explain which will allow us to determine faster and easier if we are not threatening other people
5. More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.

How long should we isolate ourselves if we have COVID-19?

Coronavirus is a challenge because it spreads even before the infected person shows the first symptoms. The shedding period begins about a day or two before symptoms appear and continues for another two or three days.

It is still possible to transmit the virus later in the course of the disease. Research shows that infected people continue to shed the virus for an average of about eight days after testing positive.

The report of scientists from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School shows that 30 percent. of patients still tested positive for rapid antigen test 10 days after confirming infection by a sensitive molecular PCR test.

Experts say virus transmission after 10 days is already very unlikely, even if the person still test positive. However, if we do the test and we still have a “plus”, it is worth wearing a mask and limiting contact with people who are sensitive, eg due to age or reduced immunity.

A week or five days? Various suggestions for the self-isolation period

The American agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) urges patients to self-isolate for at least five days after noticing the first symptoms of infection. On the sixth day, the CDC believes that isolation can be terminated as long as there are no new symptoms and no fever for at least 24 hours without taking antipyretic drugs.

However, it can be somewhat confusing to say which day should be the first day of isolation. According to the CDC, we should avoid people the day after we notice the first symptoms or the test turns out to be positive. For example, if we start to feel a sore throat or extreme tiredness and drowsiness on one day, then on the next day we start isolating and it is her first day.

We want to end the isolation. Do I need to test and get a negative result?

Doctors in Poland advise a seven-day isolation from the first symptoms. Currently, they generally do not order a PCR test to confirm the virus, but propose a quick pharmacy test.

There is a new guideline in the US, issued on August 11, 2022, that suggests patients should be tested. According to them, only two negative tests in a row after the end of the five-day isolation period can we be sure that we are not threatening others. Importantly, the tests should be performed every 48 hours.

If the test is positive after a five-day isolation period, American experts say that you should continue your retreat for a full 10 days.

If we have had close contact with someone infected, and then we obtained a negative result of a quick test from a pharmacy, the certainty that we are not infected will only give us a PCR test.

Antigen test. It is easier and faster to determine if we are contagious

Rapid antigen tests are more helpful than PCR tests in quickly determining if we are able to spread the virus. If we have symptoms, the antigen test from the pharmacy will be more reliable because our body then produces much more virus and the test is able to detect it.

Even if we do not observe symptoms, we can obtain a positive result of a quick antigen test after contact with the infected person. It is worth investigating in such a situation, because then we will quickly determine whether we are not a threat to others. Especially if we plan to be around people who are more susceptible to COVID-19, are older and have a weak immune system, or have a higher risk of infection.

Most home tests provide results within 10 to 20 minutes using samples from a self-collected nasal swab.

PCR test? Rather, let’s set ourselves up for a quick home test

The PCR test is a type of molecular test that detects the genetic material of a virus. Such a test can detect even the smallest amounts of the virus before we have enough of it in the body to infect other people.

These types of tests are more useful at the beginning of an infection to see if we have COVID-19, but they are not useful for determining if we are a threat to others. Why? Traces of the virus may still be detectable in our body for some time after we are no longer contagious.

PCR tests were used en masse in the earlier stages of the pandemic, but the Ministry of Health changed the rules of financing and referring people suspecting to be infected with them. Now, most people in Poland check whether they are infected on their own, at home, using a pharmacy test.

The PCR test is more expensive, because the collected material must be analyzed by the laboratory, and the results may come in a few days. During the current wave, it is no longer as accessible as it was during previous coronavirus ‘attacks’.

As Dr. Tomasz Dziecistkowski, a virologist and microbiologist from the Medical University of Warsaw said in an interview with the Health Manager, “universal testing has ceased” in Poland and that is why we do not know the actual number of infections.