Duration of viable virus shedding in SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant infection

  1. Julie Boucau
  2. Caitlin Marino
  3. James Regan
  4. Rockib Uddin
  5. Manish C. Choudhary
  6. James P. Flynn
  7. Geoffrey Chen
  8. Ashley M. Stuckwisch
  9. Josh Mathews
  10. May Y. Liew
  11. Arshdeep Singh
  12. Taryn Lipiner
  13. Autumn Kittilson
  14. Meghan Melberg
  15. Yijia Li
  16. Rebecca F. Gilbert
  17. Zahra Reynolds
  18. Surabhi L. Iyer
  19. Grace C. Chamberlin
  20. Tammy D. Vyas
  21. Marcia B. Goldberg
  22. Jatin M. Vyas
  23. Jonathan Z. Li
  24. Jacob E. Lemieux
  25. Mark J. Siedner
  26. Amy K. Barczak
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Abstract

Clinical features of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection, including incubation period and transmission rates, distinguish this variant from preceding variants. However, whether the duration of shedding of viable virus differs between omicron and previous variants is not well understood. To characterize how variant and vaccination status impact shedding of viable virus, we serially sampled symptomatic outpatients newly diagnosed with COVID-19. Anterior nasal swabs were tested for viral load, sequencing, and viral culture. Time to PCR conversion was similar between individuals infected with the Delta and the Omicron variant. Time to culture conversion was also similar, with a median time to culture conversion of 6 days (interquartile range 4-8 days) in both groups. There were also no differences in time to PCR or culture conversion by vaccination status.

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