Covid-19: Mask up even after 7-day recovery period, say experts

PUNE: Health experts have said that people who've come out of the mandatory seven-day quarantine after recovering from mild or asymptomatic Covid should continue to wear masks as transmission risk in some categories of recovered may not be zero.

According to central guidelines, mild cases admitted to a Covid Care Facility or under home isolation can be discharged after at least seven days have passed from testing positive and with no fever for three successive days. There is no need for testing prior to discharge.

Dr Sanjay Pujari, a member of the national Covid task force, said, "Most transmission happens during the pre-symptomatic period or one to three days of symptom onset. Over a period of time, during recovery, the infectiousness of a patient drops as symptoms resolve or diminish. With a highly transmissible variant like Omicron, which has been causing mild infection in most, one has to weigh getting out of workforce vs a very small risk of shedding infectious virus and aiding transmission. For this reason, one has to continue to mask and follow Covid-appropriate behavior even beyond the seven day period."

Infectious diseases expert Parikshit Prayag, from the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital said, "Some people may have a longer transmission window over the seven-day period, especially if symptoms such as fever remain. And while symptoms like cough or fatigue can go on for sometime after the infection has resolved, they cannot be taken as signs of active viral replication.

"We have seen odd cases in which a patient did test positive after the seventh day. If there has been no fever in a Covid patient for 72 hours and 7 days have elapsed from testing positive, it is a reassuring sign. Nevertheless, as much is yet unknown about Covid dynamics, especially in the backdrop of the new variant, it is safest to continue stringent masking."

Dr Vineeta Bal, immunologist at IISER, Pune said, "Chances of continued transmission from asymptomatic Covid patients are likely to be minimal after seven days from symptom onset. But there may be outliers, meaning a small proportion of individuals in a population that may still test positive after the seven-day isolation period. So masking even after the isolation period is over, will be of utmost importance."