Still testing postive on antigen test - Am I still contagious

[Anonymous]

It took me exactly 14 days from first symptom to negative test. I had paxlovid and they wanted me I could test pos longer after taking it (they don’t know why this is).

For my DS it was 10 days to test negative.

[Anonymous]

OP here
Thanks for the feedback! What’s hard here is everybody definitely has their opinion on how to interpret the recommendations from the CDC and other medical outlets. My thinking is unless I keep testing positive on the antigen for weeks, it’s probably a good gauge of whether I could possibly be contagious. So, in my case, I will wait for a negative antigen before taking my mask off around my family members who haven’t gotten it just to be extra safe. This is my first time getting it at all and it was worse than I imagined.
Stay healthy out there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here
Thanks for the feedback! What’s hard here is everybody definitely has their opinion on how to interpret the recommendations from the CDC and other medical outlets. My thinking is unless I keep testing positive on the antigen for weeks, it’s probably a good gauge of whether I could possibly be contagious. So, in my case, I will wait for a negative antigen before taking my mask off around my family members who haven’t gotten it just to be extra safe. This is my first time getting it at all and it was worse than I imagined.
Stay healthy out there!

Thank you for being reasonable and caring about others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you are still contagious if you are testing positive on rapid antigen tests.

The testing positive for a while thing is PCR tests. Don’t bother testing with PCR for at least forty five days after an infection. Some say ninety.

But rapid antigens show you are still contagious and can also pick up legit reinfections in that forty five to ninety day period.

My doctor told me the exact opposite of this. Said I could test positive in a rapid for weeks and it does not indicate that I am contagious.

Your doctor sounds like an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here
Thanks for the feedback! What’s hard here is everybody definitely has their opinion on how to interpret the recommendations from the CDC and other medical outlets. My thinking is unless I keep testing positive on the antigen for weeks, it’s probably a good gauge of whether I could possibly be contagious. So, in my case, I will wait for a negative antigen before taking my mask off around my family members who haven’t gotten it just to be extra safe. This is my first time getting it at all and it was worse than I imagined.
Stay healthy out there!

Thank you for being reasonable and caring about others.

It’s the least I can do!
I don’t wish my symptoms on my worst enemy 🥹

[Anonymous]

If I was concerned that someone in my household might get it, as the OP stated, I would continue to mask and semi-isolate from them until I got a negative. If I was only coming into contact from a distance, such as at the grocery store or a restaurant, I would stop testing after day 10 and live my life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never heard of anyone negative by day 5. Most don’t even test positive until day 4 or later.

My adult daughter had first symptom Saturday evening, tested positive on Sunday and tested negative on Friday. She took Paxlovid starting Sunday afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never heard of anyone negative by day 5. Most don’t even test positive until day 4 or later.

Everyone in my family was testing negative by day 5. 3 out of 4 of us were effectively asymptomatic, the fourth tested positive on an antigen before symptoms started. They're immunosuppressed so they got monoclonal antibodies, which made them feel fine in 24 hours. Negative antigen a few days after that.

[Anonymous]

Regardless of how you test on a rapid, you’re probably not contagious after 5 days. And if you are contagious, your viral load is probably low, assuming your symptoms have been improving. That leaves a non-zero risk, but given the large number of asymptomatic cases around, you don’t present much more of a transmission risk than everyone else.

[Anonymous]

My office requires weekly rapid tests, and now that I’ve had covid this past week, they told me I’m exempt from testing for 90 days. May be based on incorrect assumptions on their part, but just FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you are still contagious if you are testing positive on rapid antigen tests.

The testing positive for a while thing is PCR tests. Don’t bother testing with PCR for at least forty five days after an infection. Some say ninety.

But rapid antigens show you are still contagious and can also pick up legit reinfections in that forty five to ninety day period.

My doctor told me the exact opposite of this. Said I could test positive in a rapid for weeks and it does not indicate that I am contagious.

Your doctor sounds like an idiot.

I mean an anonymous poster on DCUM who makes such an uncouth comment doesn't really engender confidence.

Regardless, I was skeptical when the doctor said rapids don't measure contagiousness, so I did a little googling and found many articles that said the same thing. And there seem to be approximately 20% of people who test positive on rapids after 10 days (based on small studies) and experts don't believe they are contagious. All of which leads me to wonder what the point of rapid tests is. This is so confusing.

[Anonymous]

The 5 days is a joke. Its usually 10-12 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you are still contagious if you are testing positive on rapid antigen tests.

The testing positive for a while thing is PCR tests. Don’t bother testing with PCR for at least forty five days after an infection. Some say ninety.

But rapid antigens show you are still contagious and can also pick up legit reinfections in that forty five to ninety day period.

My doctor told me the exact opposite of this. Said I could test positive in a rapid for weeks and it does not indicate that I am contagious.

Your doctor sounds like an idiot.

Doctor is correct. You and the pp are wrong.

[Anonymous]

This thread made me curious so I used another one of our free rapids and tested -- Day 20 and I still have a faint positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 5 days is a joke. Its usually 10-12 days.

exactly. The CDC’s recommendations are garbage when it comes to public health.