{"id":9829,"date":"2024-07-18T21:41:34","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T21:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=9829"},"modified":"2024-07-18T22:24:34","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T22:24:34","slug":"how-long-is-covid-contagious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=9829","title":{"rendered":"How Long Is Covid Contagious?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s a tricky question to answer, but experts say symptoms and rapid tests are still good guides.<\/p>\n

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As we cope with our fifth Covid summer<\/a>, people are once again navigating travel<\/a> and social events while in the midst of yet another wave<\/a>. This raises the perennial question: If you test positive, how long are you contagious?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually a difficult question,\u201d said Dr. Dan Barouch, the head of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. \u201cThere isn\u2019t any one time period where people are no longer infectious.\u201d Some people may be contagious for just a few days, while for others it can be a few weeks, he added.<\/p>\n

In general, the more immunity someone has built up, either through a recent vaccine or prior infections, the better they\u2019ll fight off the virus and the faster they\u2019ll recover, said Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Medicine. On the other end of the spectrum, people who are immunocompromised because of medications or a medical condition can have a harder time getting rid of the virus and stay contagious for longer.<\/p>\n

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention once advised five days<\/a> of isolation after a positive Covid test, followed by five days of masking when out in public. That is still a reasonable approach, Dr. Barouch said. \u201cIt\u2019s believed that after about five days, then contagiousness goes down substantially,\u201d he said, though that \u201cdoesn\u2019t necessarily mean every single person on day six would not be contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In March, the C.D.C. shifted their recommendation<\/a> away from a specific time period. They now say that people can return to normal activities 24 hours after both their fever has resolved and their symptoms have started to improve. However, the agency still recommends prevention strategies like masking, good hygiene and physical distancing for another five days to protect those around you.<\/p>\n

On a practical level, the updated guidelines are \u201creasonable,\u201d Dr. Barouch said, noting that they are similar to the recommendations for flu and other respiratory viruses<\/a>. But, he added, \u201cit doesn\u2019t mean that when people go back to work, they\u2019re not contagious anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a tricky question to answer, but experts say symptoms and rapid tests are still good guides.As we cope with our fifth Covid summer, people are once again navigating travel and social events while in the midst of yet another wave. This raises the perennial question: If you test positive, how long are you contagious?\u201cIt\u2019s actually a difficult question,\u201d said Dr. Dan Barouch, the head of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. \u201cThere isn\u2019t any one time period where people are no longer infectious.\u201d Some people may be contagious for just a few days, while for others it can be a few weeks, he added.In general, the more immunity someone has built up, either through a recent vaccine or prior infections, the better they\u2019ll fight off the virus and the faster they\u2019ll recover, said Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Medicine. On the other end of the spectrum, people who are immunocompromised because of medications or a medical condition can have a harder time getting rid of the virus and stay contagious for longer.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention once advised five days of isolation after a positive Covid test, followed by five days of masking when out in public. That is still a reasonable approach, Dr. Barouch said. \u201cIt\u2019s believed that after about five days, then contagiousness goes down substantially,\u201d he said, though that \u201cdoesn\u2019t necessarily mean every single person on day six would not be contagious.\u201dIn March, the C.D.C. shifted their recommendation away from a specific time period. They now say that people can return to normal activities 24 hours after both their fever has resolved and their symptoms have started to improve. However, the agency still recommends prevention strategies like masking, good hygiene and physical distancing for another five days to protect those around you.On a practical level, the updated guidelines are \u201creasonable,\u201d Dr. Barouch said, noting that they are similar to the recommendations for flu and other respiratory viruses. But, he added, \u201cit doesn\u2019t mean that when people go back to work, they\u2019re not contagious anymore.\u201dWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9831,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9829"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9832,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions\/9832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}