Colorado woman tests positive for COVID-19 twice

[orleans]

LAFAYETTE, Colo — A month 1/2 since her first time contracting the novel coronavirus, a woman in Lafayette found out she tested positive for COVID-19 — again.

Michelle Hart first developed COVID-19 symptoms at the end of April. Doctors administered a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PRC) test — commonly performed with a nasal swab for coronavirus. On May 2, Hart's results returned positive.

Since then, Hart said her symptoms have "come and gone" and two consecutive negative coronavirus tests led her to believe she was out of the woods.

"Even though I was still having some symptoms, I was told that, you know, I’m not positive," Hart said.

But the persisting symptoms worried Hart enough to stop by an urgent care and ask for flu and strep tests. The results of both of those tests came back negative. So, Hart was given yet another nasal swab test.

On Wednesday morning, the antigen test showed Hart was carrying the virus."

(more at link)
https://www.9news.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/woman-tests-positive-twice-covid-19-coronavirus-colorado/73-772b5764-a15b-46b7-8946-c88f30397955

[Dan]

1. This is not good,

And I hope she is just the exception to the rule.

[BComplex]

2. I'm not even sure the tests are accurate for these things.

I had heard that the virus can stay with some people for a couple of months, and indeed some of the folks I've seen leaving hospitals, receiving ovations from caretakers, have been in the hospital for months.

I don't think the tests are necessarily accurate.

[soothsayer]

3. Yep, I blame the tests not being sensitive enough

I’ve read that testing poop would be more accurate (can’t recall why—something about how the virus sheds?). Maybe they should do that to clear people who they think have recovered.

On the other hand, I’ve also heard tv docs speculate that maybe people aren’t contagious when sick for so long or multiple times.

Idk.