
Sailors aboard Roosevelt carrier retest positive for Covid-19 a 2nd time - burlesona
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Five-sailors-aboard-Roosevelt-carrier-retest-15273804.php
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burlesona
The sailors tested positive, but were asymptomatic. They quarantined for 14
days. They tested negative twice, 48 hours apart. Then sometime later (the
article doesn’t say when), they become symptomatic and test positive again.

This is discouraging to see. What is the most likely explanation? The
incubation time is much longer than we think? Maybe the first tests were false
positives?

Has anyone else seen other cases like this? What is the leading hypothesis
right now?

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rogerkirkness
Based on studies in South Korea, it's because the first tests are false
positive, so "asymptomatic" really means "not infected" the first time. In
cases in South Korea where they were hospitalized, and then retest positive,
it's because the second tests were false positive. So far no cases of getting
truly sick again after resolving the first time (once they get to the bottom
of initial/subsequent false positives).

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maxharris
It's not a second infection, it's just epithelial cells turning over in the
lungs, releasing just enough viral RNA to amplify into a positive test result:
[http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200429000724](http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200429000724)

