Somehow, I stumbled upon this:
In particular, I started listening to this episode:
https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-617/
In the first part of this (I have a 30 minute ride to work, so say 30 minutes), the lead talker is a virologist from New York (NYC, I believe).
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He discusses a woman who had a positive PCR test (PCR test is the swab they put up your nose) for Covid-19, then 56 days later had another positive PCR test. 56 DAYS. I forget the reason for the first test, but she got the second test due to delayed, late-stage symptoms including pains in her hands and an inability to clear mucus. He says he has seen several of these patients, with similar late-stage symptoms.
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He says he does not know if this means they can shed the virus for that long, or if it’s remnants of “dead” virus, although this woman seemed to be having some possible symptoms.
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He goes through some of the difficulty in interpreting test results. That is, you get a positive or negative test: what does this mean?
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He also discusses the original idea of keeping the hospitals clear by sending PCR positive (but no longer symptomatic) people back to either their homes (might be OK) or to care facilities (not good). He says the decision to send people back to care facilities was a bad one. This is one reason why so many people in care homes got sick.
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They no longer do this, such that if you get a PCR positive test you do not go back to care homes, although this raises its own issues.
Anyway, it’s quite an interesting take on things, using people who are in the field and handling patients too.