COVID-19 not very infectious 8 days after symptoms occur, Winnipeg study suggests
COVID-19 appears to be infectious only for the first eight days after patients experience symptoms, Winnipeg researchers conclude in a study that, if confirmed by further work, could have implications for the way the disease is treated, isolated and prevented.
In the largest study of its kind so far, researchers from the National Microbiology Laboratory, Cadham Provincial Laboratory and the University of Manitoba looked at nasal or throat samples from 90 Manitobans who tested positive for COVID-19 from March 12 to the first week of April.
There was no viral growth whatsoever in samples taken from patients more than eight days after they became symptomatic, according to study findings published Friday in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
(excerpt)