For the record, I first tested "maybe negative" on Day 11, Thursday, January 5. The thing about rapid tests at the tail end of the illness is that it's hard to have confidence that it's really negative. Sometimes, the line was so faint that I wasn't even sure it was there. (Notably, though, any time I was unsure, my son with presumably better eyesight almost always said he could definitely see a positive line.)
Another problem was, the window for reading a rapid test is usually 15-30 minutes, but what if the positive line appears after an hour? Does that still count as very mildly infectious, or is it totally invalid?
That's the kind of inconclusiveness I faced on Day 11. Complicating matters even more, I still had symptoms: congestion and a mild sinus headache. (Interestingly to me, I've rarely had sinus issues when sick in the past, but this bout with covid gave me the worst and longest sinus headache I've ever had.) I just wasn't sure if having symptoms might still make me contagious, even though I tested negative.
From what I can gather, it's not uncommon for acute covid symptoms to last for "a few weeks", but it seems the person is presumed not infectious as long as they are negative on rapid tests. (Lingering symptoms would not be attributed to long covid until at least 4 weeks after infection, or 3 months according to the WHO.)
Still, just to be sure, I followed the strictest guidelines offered by the CDC. At the very, very bottom of their page on isolation, there is a literal "Note" that implies you might still be infectious until you have two sequential negative rapid tests separated by 48 hours. Counting my "maybe negative" on Day 11 as a negative, I got definite negative results on Days 12 and 13 (today), so I ended isolation today.
The congestion and mild sinus headache persist, though, plus I'm still feeling run down and tired, so I plan to take it easy until all symptoms are gone.
Incidentally, my husband tested "maybe negative" on his Day 12, and by then he was already symptom-free.
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