The Mystery of Why Some People Keep Testing Positive for Covid-19

On July 22, Natalie Forouzad was dreaming of finally leaving the basement of her parents’ house in North Carolina. She used to begin most days with a six-mile run, but for the last 43 days, she hadn’t ventured much past the basement walls. Her ordeal began in early June when she started feeling fatigued and got feverish chills. Forouzad, a 20-year-old college student who is poised to begin her senior year at East Carolina University, had been staying since March with her parents, who are in their fifties, and wanted to ensure that she didn’t have the novel coronavirus. So, she went to her doctor on June 9 and received a test for Covid-19. The result came back two days later and confirmed that she had the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease. Breathing became more difficult for her over the next couple weeks. Her resting heart rate hovered around 110 beats per minute at times while she struggled. “It felt like there was a pillow over my face for a week,” she said. “It scares you — you wonder, ‘Am I going to go to sleep and not wake up?’”

By July, Forouzad started to feel better gradually, but she still experienced intermittent pain deep in her lungs. Her family continued to keep their distance by leaving her meals by the door on the side of the basement that leads outside. Finally, on July 5, Forouzad felt emboldened to go to a drive-through testing site and get swabbed again. To her dismay, the test came back positive. Weeks later after that second positive test, she continued to have residual lung pain and remained frightened about infecting her family; that’s why she was still in the basement. “I’ve been in quarantine for 43 days and I want to come out,” she said. “I’m sick of being here. But no one in this whole universe is telling me if I’m contagious or not if I’m testing positive.”

As the pandemic continues, a growing number of people have faced the same dilemma as Forouzad. One doctor in San Francisco had multiple positive coronavirus tests at least 90 days out from her initial diagnosis. Facebook groups for people who identify themselves as long-haulers struggling with the lasting effects of Covid-19 have cropped up and are growing. Not…