What You Should Know About The Infectivity Of Coronavirus
Learning about Covid-19 and living in self-isolation
For the past two weeks, I had to undergo a self-quarantine. A close friend who I’ve been spending time with tested positive for Covid-19. The good news is she didn’t experience any severe symptoms and was cleared from isolation by a doctor from a government health clinic soon after.
Although detection of the virus (having tested positive) does not necessarily mean that a person is infectious, clinical criteria still require that —
- For asymptomatic individuals, 10 days after a positive test in isolation is recommended.
- For individuals who display symptoms, the symptoms have been resolved for at least 3 days before their release from isolation.
My friend had minor flu-like symptoms. It started with headaches and a sore throat. She didn’t know how or when she was infected. I went to get tested immediately after she informed me. Fortunately, the test result came back negative the next day.
It is estimated that the risk of transmission is highest at or around the time of symptom onset and in the first 5 days of illness. This means that if my friend had displayed symptoms, such as a cough, she could have spread the virus through infectious droplets. I was lucky that she didn’t display any symptoms yet when I met her around Christmas and New Year’s eve.
To prevent any possible risk of transmission to others, I isolated myself in my room. My husband had to move to the guest room and bring all my meals to me — not a bad arrangement being treated like a queen if you ask me.
I also read that the body produces neutralizing antibodies which reduce the risk of infectivity within 5–10 days after infection with the virus. To be safe, I isolated myself for two weeks. Studies showed that the average time between exposure to the virus and symptom onset is on average 5–6 days, but can be as long as 14 days.
As the days go by, the number of new cases is increasing in Malaysia. The government has since announced an emergency and lockdown to prevent the collapse of the healthcare system.
The period of self-isolation made me appreciate even more the little things in life, like being able to hug my husband to sleep, spend time doing nothing with my family, and even hugging our dog. Current evidence suggests that humans infected with Covid-19 can infect other mammals, including dogs and cats.
The Italian saying “Dolce far Niente”, which means the sweetness of doing nothing, came to mind. I’ve concluded that time doing nothing can be sweeter if spent with the ones you love.
