Persistent Covid

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

I’ve had Covid for three weeks. I’m still testing positive, but the symptoms are quite mild and it’s been nearly a week since I had even a slight fever. I took a five-day course of Paxlovid starting on the fifth day of symptoms. My breathing feels totally normal, and my oximeter has been reading 95 to 99. When I do an antigen test, however, a dark T line still shows up within a minute.

I’ve been walking and lifting, with low intensity and maybe 20% of my usual training volume, in hopes of maintaining a little fitness and perhaps stimulating my immune system. These sessions feel every bit as easy as they normally would, but I usually start feeling sicker a couple hours later, making it seem as if I’ve overdone it.

Three questions:

  1. Could mild post-exercise malaise actually be a positive sign that I’ve succeeded in getting my immune system to work harder?
  2. As long as I keep testing positive, I should avoid contact with others even if I’m wearing an N95, right?​
  3. Is there anything else I can do for this darn thing besides just waiting it out? (Pretty sure that’s a no! :p)

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2

  1. Unfortunately I don’t really know

  2. I don’t think this is necessary, nor do I think you need to continue testing yourself repeatedly, especially since you have been fever-free for a week.

  3. Unfortunately not – although it’s certainly fortunate that you did not get sick enough to require hospitalization

3

Thanks, Austin. That’s encouraging!