Researchers in a new study found that coronavirus patients with mild symptoms are most contagious in their first week of symptoms. Although the study is “limited” due to the small number of patients tested, it shows how people who are positive for the disease can continue their normal activities when they are most contagious.
In the study published on April 1 in the journal Nature, the researchers analyzed data from nine patients with “relatively mild” coronavirus symptoms to determine how infectious they were over a 14-day period. The researchers specifically checked the viral load in samples from throat and lung swabs, from sputum, and from stool, blood and urine samples.
The researchers found that the virus replicated in the throat and that concentrations peaked in the first five days after symptoms appeared. For comparison, the highest infectious point in SARS patients was about seven to ten days after the patient’s first illness.
This means that the coronavirus patients, all of whom had “mild” symptoms, were most contagious during the period when they were still able to perform normal everyday activities.
To be clear, the study is quite limited in that only nine patients were observed, who were all middle-aged, had no underlying conditions, and none of them had a serious illness. However, the results can provide clues as to how to deal with patients.
For example, of the nine patients tested, the two who developed early signs of pneumonia still had high virus levels after 10 to 11 days. On the other hand, the other seven showed a significant decrease in virus excretion after about five days of symptoms.
Therefore, the researchers found that at a time when hospitals are overwhelmed with patients, those with milder symptoms could be discharged and sent home to continue self-isolation about 10 days after symptoms first appeared. In this way, hospitals can make room for other patients who need treatment, especially for patients with more severe symptoms.
In addition, the researchers found that their results suggest that the containment of the virus should focus more on transmissions that come from people’s mouths through droplets than from surfaces.
For some time now, health authorities like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that “healthy” people do not have to wear masks to avoid the coronavirus. Due to the fact that even asymptomatic people can spread the disease, the authorities are currently debating whether this needs to change.
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