New insights on when COVID-19 is most contagious


A study on viral shedding and transmissability was publshed in Nature today.

A couple of TL;DRs

In the study, the researchers collected 414 throat swabs from 94 patients, finding

high viral loads soon after symptom onset, which then gradually decreased towards the detection limit at about day 21.

They then looked at 77 cases of people and who they likely caught the virus form to infer that 44% of the infected were infected from someone who was pre-symptomatic.

Here’s their final estimate of the infectiousness profile

They also found no difference between the amount of shedding and various factors such as severity, age, sex, etc

The study has implications for public health strategy



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