Decision Memo At this time, data are limited regarding how long persons shed infectious SARV-CoV-2 RNA after infection. Key findings are summarized here.
For an emerging pathogen like SARS-CoV-2, the patterns and duration of illness and infectivity have not been fully described.
However, available data indicate that shedding of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in upper respiratory specimens declines after onset of symptoms.
At 10 days after illness onset, recovery of replication-competent virus in viral culture (as a proxy of the presence of infectious virus) is decreased and approaches zero.