“I would think five [days] is good,” Dr. Fauci said on July 29 during a Facebook Watch live interview with ABC News chief medical correspondent Jennifer Ashton, MD. “I might even go a day or so early because the incubation period of when you get symptoms is about five days,” Fauci explained. “If that’s the case, I would think the virus is probably replicating on day three, four, five.“ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb
Though he said there is no official recommendation for when a person should be tested after they know they been directly exposed to the virus, what’s Fauci’s rule of thumb? “I would say no earlier than day three and no later than day five or day six,” he said. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. The National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases (NIAID) director’s guidelines more or less align with the ones from Harvard Medical School—though the latter institution’s provide a bit more detail. According to Harvard, the chances of a false negative result go from 100 percent on the day of exposure to 40 percent if you are tested four days after exposure. If you have symptoms and are tested three days after they began, the chances of a false negative are only 20 percent. And for more insights from Dr. Fauci, check out The One Way Dr. Fauci Says You’re Not Protecting Yourself From COVID.
