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Longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 Testing among the Unvaccinated Is Punctuated by Intermittent Positivity and Variable Rates of Increasing Cycle Threshold Values
May 2025 • Shawn E. Hawken, Subhashini A. Sellers, Jason R. Smedberg, Jeremy D. Ward, Avian Elliott, Herbert C. Whinna, William A. Fischer, Melissa B. Miller
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is complicated by cases of vaccine breakthrough and reinfection and widespread transmission of variants of concern (VOCs). Consequently, the need to interpret longitudinal positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tests is crucial in guiding clinical decisions regarding infection control precautions and treatment. Although diagnostic real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR tests yield <em>C<sub>T</sub></em> values that are inversely corr…