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Previous COVID infection


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35 minutes ago, Mark Elliott said:

I'm hearing that if you get COVID you may test positive  for months, does that lock you out  of RCI cruises?

I don't think there are very many cases where that actually happens. To answer your question - YES you need to pass a test to get on the cruise.

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1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said:

You can test positive for covid for months using a PCR test because they will pick up viral debris.  Use a rapid antigen test instead, as they generally only pick up active infections.

^THIS. A rapid antigen tests only detects an active infection where as a PCR detects any lingering sign of an infection even though it may be no longer active. 

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Daughter tested negative on an antigen, but positive on a PCR given the same day.   She has a cruise in the near future and I will advise her to take an antigen test.  My stepdaughter was still testing positive for Covid 6 weeks after her original positive....using a PCR, it does happen.  Usage of a nasal rinse (lavage) might clear out any lingering covid debris (dead virus) in the sinus cavity.

Royal does NOT recognize a previous recent infection as a reason to get around testing.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

Daughter tested negative on an antigen, but positive on a PCR given the same day.   She has a cruise in the near future and I will advise her to take an antigen test.  My stepdaughter was still testing positive for Covid 6 weeks after her original positive....using a PCR, it does happen.  Usage of a nasal rinse (lavage) might clear out any lingering covid debris (dead virus) in the sinus cavity.

Royal does NOT recognize a previous recent infection as a reason to get around testing.

 

 

Not sure how accurate this is -- DD (triple vaxxed, 3rd shot was full Moderna for being immmunocompromised) was exposed 12/22, showed symptoms starting 12/27 and tested positive 12/29, but just had the mild cold symptoms.  (OTOH, my mom, whom we spent Christmas day with, after giving her the info, & staying masked almost the entire time was negative a few days after that.) Other DD was actually much sicker, but we didn't test her, assuming she was positive, DH had mild symptoms & I never had any.  We were supposed to be on Anthem 1/9.  1/7 -- DH tested negative, positive DD still tested positive.  1/8 -- other DD, who finally went to doctor  & was diagnosed with bacterial bronchitis & got antibiotics for it, tested negative, as did I.  We cleaned out DD's nose, prayed, & did another test -- still positive 17 days after exposure, 12 days after showing symptoms, 10 days after testing positive the first time, 5-6 days after no symptoms and 1 day after she would have been allowed back to her day program.   

So, we were screwed, & couldn't go and by the way, these were all antigen tests, which are supposedly less sensitive

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So, I learned this last night after talking to a couple EMTs who came to take my neighbor to the hospital for pneumonia last night. 1...if a C19 diagnosis is two weeks old, she doesn't have an active infection for it...2...it's very common for PCR tests to show positive for months even after recovery has occurred, and there is no active virus...3...many times for elderly, there are secondary infections (like my neighbor's)...4...this was new info to me...if you take a PCR test that shows negative when you take it, then within days or weeks, you take another, many times it will show positive...I don't completely understand that except that the mRNA feature of the PCR can apparently leave traces and spoof the virus....I think this makes sense with all the false positives I keep hearing about.

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11 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

Daughter tested negative on an antigen, but positive on a PCR given the same day.   She has a cruise in the near future and I will advise her to take an antigen test.  My stepdaughter was still testing positive for Covid 6 weeks after her original positive....using a PCR, it does happen.  Usage of a nasal rinse (lavage) might clear out any lingering covid debris (dead virus) in the sinus cavity.

Royal does NOT recognize a previous recent infection as a reason to get around testing.

 

 

I had the same experience, negative antigen, positive PCR just last month.  I was infected October, 2020 with a mild case, and have long since recovered.  I retested and got a 2nd antigen test and it too was negative.  The pop up testing site was no longer sending out samples for PCR testing.

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1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

The protocol that I have heard (never tried it myself) is:

 Pavidone-Iodine 10% solution:  1/2 teaspoon in a shot glass of water.  2 sprays per nostril using bulb syringe.  In through the nostril, back over the soft pallet and spit out the mouth.  Gargle with whatever remains.  

Apparently very effective in neutralizing any remaining in the nostrils.

Will have to give that a try when we get our "free" tests from the government.  Not going to waste our very expensive home tests on this.  

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Hubby recently tested positive via a routine work PCR test. He will not be subject to work related testing for 6 weeks…curious to see if he tests positive at the 6 week mark.  As others have said, your best bet is with a rapid antigen.  Out of curiosity, hubby did an at home rapid antigen test on day 14 and it was negative.  

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Here's the thing..... aside from previous research over a year old that suggests a post COVID infected person can test positive by PCR test for months after symptomatically clearing the COVID infection, more recent studies of Omicron reveal that your maximum period of infectiousness occurs between days 3 and 5.5. you'll continue to carry virions but in decreasing numbers with less infectiousness following that through day 9. At that point, most people will sufficiently clear viral particles and test negative by AG testing. Molecular testing is another story.

The CDC is still pushing the most infectious period following exposure to COVID is 1-3 days.  Thus, cruisers doing a 48h pre-boarding antigen test in the Omicron environment may have an insufficient viral load to produce a positive test result. Molecular tests that include the PCR tests are more sensitive (lower threshold to pop positive) and likely to pick up an Omicron COVID infection at days 1-3. There also appears to be gradations of the appearance of the positive pink line on typical COVID AG tests below the control line that correlate with viral load - the darker the line indicating infection, the higher the viral load = higher potential for the infected person to spread virions by aerosolization.

To be clear, studies are demonstrating that yes, after 5d, most Omicron produced C19 infections resolve and you'll feel better. Sometimes this happens surprisingly quickly, like waking up the day after you felt terrible feeling fine. You are also not usually infectious on days 6-9 even though you may show increasingly feint positives on the AG card through day 9. The CDC has been criticised for not recommending testing before leaving isolation on day 5. Part of that recommendation was political, part of it science. So, yeah, having become infected with Omicron, you're not infectious days 6-9, may still test positive but won't be spreading virions becasue your viral load is too low. 95% of the time you'll test negative by AG test on day 10. Longer by molecular testing but for most, you're not spreading virions.

This may be the cause of increased outbreaks aboard cruise ships with Omicron as opposed to Delta and previous variants..... people are legitimately pre-board testing negative by AG test, feel fine, have no symptoms, board and become infectious on days 3 to 4.5, maybe or maybe not developing symptoms. I'm not advocating for molecular testing as a pre-boarding COVID screening tool. I believe that would cause more problems than solve them.

There will be leakers with Omicron produced COVID19 regardless of testing strategies. Cruise lines have successfully relied upon a multi-tiered strategy to prevent outbreaks - namely requiring vaccinations, masks when viral prevalence increases, isolation and contact tracing of the infected. So far so good but this relies upon guests being super attentive to URI symptoms. For vaxed guests, these include a sense of being mildly ill (your immune system battling the virus and why you feel that way), raspy/sore throat, runny nose and sneezing. Cough is apparently not a prevalent C19 symptom in the Omicron environment.  Report to medical and seek testing. Do your part even though your cruise is scuttled if your positive. Other guests and crews will appreciate that

 

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