r/ZeroCovidCommunity

Hi there - first time poster, looking for some advice on when to end isolation!

My wife came back from a trip feeling "kinda flu-y" a couple weeks ago and tested positive the moment she got home. This was her first time getting it, and she's Type 1 Diabetic so I insisted on her getting a course of Paxlovid, which greatly reduced her symptoms and took her from "mild case" symptoms to totally symptom-free within the course of a few days. We wanted to wait a week to watch out for rebound so we waited a week to test - she tested negative 2 days in a row on RATs, but when we both got PCRs a day after the second negative test (about 2 weeks in at that point), she came back positive.

We've been good at keeping up with quarantine strategies - her in isolation, both of us masked anywhere, CR boxes, open windows, you name it. I'm a suspected Covid long-hauler (never tested positive but was really sick with bad post-infection symptoms, and check a lot of the cardiovascular-related boxes for LC), so neither of us want her giving it to me, but... At some point she has to stop being infectious, right?

There's a lot of mixed messaging out there on PCRs - I see a lot of insisting that a negative PCR is the only way to test out of isolation, but the fact that a PCR can still detect dead virus material months after someone stops being infectious is contradictory to that. We still have RATs to test her on, and was finally able to buy a Metrix reader and tests (still waiting a couple more days in the mail on those), but I understand that the Metrix can also test positive on dead material since it's a similar sensitivity to a PCR test. I'm also finally getting the updated vaccine tomorrow, so that should be an extra layer of protection, but at this point I'm starting to wonder if my abundance of caution is becoming an overabundance of caution.

TLDR: Wife tested negative on RAT but positive on PCR 2 weeks after first positive test, how do we determine she's safe to leave isolation without the risk of getting me (long-hauler husband) sick again?

Thank you in advance for any feedback or advice! I just need some sort of reassurance that we're doing the right things, and this is going to end at some point!

finally caved and went in for a cleaning. I wanted to wait until this surge died down, but I turn 26 in 2 weeks and I’ll lose my insurance coverage, so I didn’t have much of a choice. Only unmasked when absolutely necessary and used CPC mouthwash and xclear nasal spray before and afterwards. I also took a metrix test before I went (negative). I’m gonna test again in a few days…

The hygienist was clearing her throat, and I asked if she was feeling at all unwell and disclosed my high-risk status…she got pretty salty when I asked. Is that an inappropriate question? I tried asking as politely as I could…

Turns out I have a cavity, so I have to go back. Any recommendations on making the experience more cautious? There’s no windows that open in the office space, unfortunately. I took the first appointment they had in the hopes the office would be empty, but it was a much bigger dental practice than I expected and there were about 10 people inside (maybe 1/3 in surgical masks).

Metrix readers are out of stock on the aptitude website and unavailable anywhere else I looked online. Anyone know where I might be able to buy one for delivery in the US in the next couple weeks? Looking to test before getting together with other Covid cautious friends at the end of September.