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tomrod

Viral shedding maximizes before or at symptom onset.

https://www.physiciansweekly.com/covid-19-viral-shedding-can...

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejme2009758

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/931898

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0869-5

https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/sars-cov-2-viral-load-and-the-...

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Can somebody explain what is meant by viral shedding here? Some of those links mention cotton swabs used for testing. So viral load is shedding of infectious "compound" into throat and nose mucus. But no symthoms means there is no cough yet. How much of that is shedding into air you breath out? Is it assumed this is the same?

It means you're infectious, and measurably so.

But not for life. The infection ends. And, lately, with the likelyhood of death being greatly, greatly reduced.

I anticipate that it would be common knowledge that viral shedding is known to end (i.e. people get better or die). Outside a negligible amount of cases, is this not common knowledge?

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