how long will i test positive for covid antigen

Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to With a nucleic acid amplification test (like PCR), your results may be positive for up to 90 days. Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data. Some research has aligned more closely with the CDC isolation guidance, which assumes most people will no longer be infectious after five days. They do not measure how much virus you may have in your body or how infectious you may be. Buder F, Bauswein M, Magnus CL, et al. Approximately 50% of antigen tests were positive 59 days after infection, but the percentage of positive results declined during this period and was lower after asymptomatic infection, after previous infection, and in persons who have completed a primary COVID-19 vaccine series. However, if you perform an at-home COVID-19 antigen test, you could get a false . (Tests that have high sensitivity produce few false-negative results. Highly sensitive tests, like PCR, will show a positive result for up to three months later. However, if you test positive after your symptoms start improving, you may still be infectious. The tricky aspect is that a negative antigen test appears to be a reliable indicator for negative viral cultures in a lab, but a positive test doesnt necessarily predict positive viral cultures, the researchers found. Rising cases of COVID-19 variant, XBB.1.5, How to prevent flu, RSV and COVID-19 during busy holiday season, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How To Get Another Round of Free COVID-19 Tests From the Government, Omicron Infection Timeline: When Symptoms Start and How Long They Last. This is partly why Baird did not bother to take a rapid test when he had COVID recently and had to decide when it was OK to return to work. Persons are estimated to be most infectious approximately 4 days after SARS-CoV-2 infection (4), and SARS-CoV-2 virus generally can be cultured up to 10 days after symptom onset (3). Late last year, the CDC shortened the quarantine and isolation guidelines, saying "people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation. And many experts advise waiting until you test negative on an at-home test before venturing out. A negative antigen test in persons with signs or symptoms of COVID-19 should be confirmed by NAAT, a more sensitive test.

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