You are reading a single comment by @paininthe and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
paininthe
A friend who is a senior A&E consultant has had symptoms consistent with Covid-19 over the last month (but clear for the last couple of weeks). By the time they were actually tested they were over it and, unsurprisingly, the test for active Coronavirus came back negative. It goes to show how "testing" is not that simple.
If you consider the stages of an infection:-
a) Uninfected
b) Initially infected, pre-symptomatic but viral load low (so not contagious)
c) Infected/contagious and either symptomatic or asymptomatic
d) Recovering but still contagious (i.e. significant viral load)
e) Post infection, low or zero viral load
An "active SARS-Cov-2" viral test (usually a nasal swab) should be positive for stages (c) and (d).
A "have they had it" antigen/antibody test (more than likely a blood test) should be positive for stage (e) and, depending on specificity and sensitivity, possibly stage (d).