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I would like to ask for medical answers concerning an inquiry lingering in my mind concerning COVID-19 PCR and Antigen Tests? Need your help and advice really urgently. Question: Can the COVID-19 virus regardless of the variant die in a person's body within 24 or 48 hours? Circumstance: A person's PCR/Antigen Test results reads positive, and then in 24-48hours another PCR/Antigen Test Results read negative. This occurs with any treatment in between the test results or any interval of isolation in between the test results. Would kindly appreciate your medical/scientific reply and advice to this matter.
The testing for Covid has been fraught with difficulty over the past 2 years of this pandemic. The PCR test (and other molecular diagnostic tests) are the most sensitive and specific but also may be “overly sensitive” as the test can detect pieces of the virus that not able to grow or spread to another person. Antigen tests are less sensitive but remain very specific, this test may only detect the virus for a few days of infection because it requires more virus particles to be positive. During the course of a natural infection, the virus quantity in the body will increase and then decrease (as the body’s immune system tries to eradicate the virus). So, it is important to note which test you might be using and at which phase of the infection.
The answer to your question may depend on whether you performed the PCR or antigen test as the first test or the second test. A negative test result may be because the virus level was very low, indicating the elimination of the virus by the immune system, or simply there was not sufficient virus to detect with the test assay. Therefore, we use a combination of testing and the following of symptoms to guide isolation practices. Currently, the CDC does not require a test negative to bring a person out of isolation.
Because testing is not easily and widely available in the U.S., the CDC does not require testing to determine the total duration of isolation or quarantine. The data suggests that the majority of shedding is during the initial 5 days of infection. Please refer to the CDC guidelines here.
