In 4 US state prisons, 3,300 inmates test positive, 96% without symptoms

Re:In 4 US state prisons, 3,300 inmates test positive, 96% w... by darkerside on Saturday April 25, 2020 @10:00PM (#22983614)

Depending on the nature of the virus and how the PCR test works with it, I couldn't rule out that it could be much longer than that. Virii are not my area, but there are bacterial diseases that result in positive PCR years after infection. Disclaimer: microbiology is also not my area.

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Re:In 4 US state prisons, 3,300 inmates test positive, 96% w... by icegreentea2 on Sunday April 26, 2020 @09:25AM (#22986975)

Yes, it all depends on how the agent infects the body and how the immune system is able to clear it. Our belief (based on how other coronaviruses behave) is that the body is pretty good at clearing it out, and that the virus doesn't really have a mechanism for forming a reservoir within the body.

The expectation is that PCR negative is roughly correlated with fighting off the disease in the short term, and basically perfectly correlated in the long term.

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