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  • WORLD VIEW

A negative COVID-19 test does not mean recovery

Pandemic policy must include defining and measuring what we mean by mild infection.
  1. Nisreen A. Alwan

    1. Nisreen A. Alwan is an associate professor of public health at the University of Southampton, UK.

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Eight months into the global pandemic, we’re still measuring its effects only in deaths. Non-hospitalized cases are loosely termed ‘mild’ and are not followed up. Recovery is implied by discharge from hospital or testing negative for the virus. Ill health in those classed as ‘recovered’ is going largely unmeasured. And, worldwide, millions of those still alive who got ill without being tested or hospitalized are simply not being counted.

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Nature 584, 170 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02335-z

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