Your viral load is the amount of virus in your body—measured inversely in Ct values. If your Ct value is higher, you have a lower viral load; if your Ct is lower, you have a higher viral load. A recent December study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases found that patients with a Ct of less than 22 had more than four times the odds of dying within 30 days compared to those who had higher Ct levels, or lower viral loads. And an older September study published in Cell had researchers record viral loads in more than 3,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients on the first day they were admitted. The researchers found that 40 percent of patients that had Ct levels 25 or below died while in the hospital, compared to only 15 percent of patients with higher Ct levels. And for more risks to be aware of, This Bad Habit Could Increase Your Risk of Dying From COVID, Doctor Says. A study conducted by the Nevada Department of Public Health found that people who were asymptomatic had an average Ct value of 29.6—which suggests that those who don’t experience symptoms with their COVID case may carry a lower viral load than those who do. This helps correlate higher viral loads to the risk of developing symptoms, which could progress to a severe or even fatal coronavirus case. And for more on dangerous COVID cases, If You Have This on Your Skin, You Could Have Severe COVID, Study Shows. Fortunately, tracking your Ct levels doesn’t have to be a complicated matter. Your viral load can be determined by the regular PCR. test that most labs use to diagnose a COVID infection, The New York Times reports. These tests are performed in “cycles,” which double the amount of viral genetic material drawn from a patient’s sample. If your viral load is higher, the test will only need to run a few cycles to diagnose you. So if you get a positive coronavirus result at a low cycle threshold (Ct), that means you have a high viral load. If many cycles have to be run before a positive test is produced, you most likely have a lower viral load. And for more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. Daniel Griffin, MD, an infectious disease physician at Columbia University, told The New York Times that tracking viral loads “can actually help us stratify risk.” And this has been documented several times in research throughout the course of the pandemic.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Griffin says knowing the viral load of a patient can help hospital workers mitigate needs between patients by predicting the course of their case. For instance, some patients may only need an oxygen check once a day while others may need to be monitored more closely, as they have a higher risk of complications. And for coronavirus symptoms you should know, check out The Earliest Signs You Have COVID, According to Johns Hopkins. To date, tracking viral loads in COVID patients hasn’t been a top priority. But many are hoping that changes with new guidance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On Dec. 10, they said that clinical labs could consider reporting an estimate of one’s viral load alongside their coronavirus infection results. “This is a very important move by the FDA,” Michael Mina, MD, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told The New York Times. “I think it’s a step in the right direction to making the most use of one of the only pieces of data we have for many positive individuals.” And for more on the current state of the pandemic, These Are the Only 4 States Where COVID Isn’t Surging.
