Duration of SARS-CoV-2 Infectivity

Abstract

The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic led to a high number of deaths worldwide as well as an overload of healthcare systems and an economic collapse. One of the reasons can be attributed to the lack of knowledge about the duration of infectivity at the beginning of the pandemic, resulting in hospital isolation of patients and absence periods of employees. In particular, the absence of healthcare workers placed an unprecedented strain on healthcare systems. Thereupon, at least one negative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test from a respiratory specimen was required for ending isolation [1]. However, prolonged SARS-CoV-2 RNA shedding was reported for several weeks following infection [2-9]. The aim of this paper is to discuss the current state of knowledge about duration of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and necessity of isolation.