WHEN DOES A POSITIVE COVID TEST BECOME NEGATIVE AGAIN?
WHEN DOES A POSITIVE COVID TEST BECOME NEGATIVE AGAIN?
We are seeing more people now who have had a positive COVID-19 test, have quarantined and now want to travel. They are booking with us hoping that their test will now be negative.
It is important to know that the COVID-19 PCR test can stay positive for weeks or even months. This is not always the case but if you are booking with us immediately following a 10-14 day quarantine, there is a strong probability that it will come back positive. In some cases it comes back "inconclusive". The longer you wait, the more likely your repeat test will be negative.
It appears that the average time to turn negative again is 30 days. This of course does not mean that the individual is sick or infectious to others for all that time. Once the quarantine period is over, it is considered that the person is not infectious, yet the test may stay positive for a while.
Of interest, there was a case in Ottawa where the test was intermittently positive for over 100 days.
It can happen that the same person tests differently at two different labs on the same day during this transition time from positive to negative. The traveller may be upset by this, thinking that there is a lab error. However, we believe this has to do with the sensitivity of the testing being done at each lab. A weakly positive test at one lab may be showing as negative at another.
It is thought that rapid antigen tests will remain positive for a shorter time than PCR tests but we are unaware of data that tells us how long.
It is important to know that the COVID-19 PCR test can stay positive for weeks or even months. This is not always the case but if you are booking with us immediately following a 10-14 day quarantine, there is a strong probability that it will come back positive. In some cases it comes back "inconclusive". The longer you wait, the more likely your repeat test will be negative.
It appears that the average time to turn negative again is 30 days. This of course does not mean that the individual is sick or infectious to others for all that time. Once the quarantine period is over, it is considered that the person is not infectious, yet the test may stay positive for a while.
Of interest, there was a case in Ottawa where the test was intermittently positive for over 100 days.
It can happen that the same person tests differently at two different labs on the same day during this transition time from positive to negative. The traveller may be upset by this, thinking that there is a lab error. However, we believe this has to do with the sensitivity of the testing being done at each lab. A weakly positive test at one lab may be showing as negative at another.
It is thought that rapid antigen tests will remain positive for a shorter time than PCR tests but we are unaware of data that tells us how long.