What Is the Incubation Period of COVID-19?

Family Medicine, Primary Care Roots Community Health Center, Hippo Education, Kameda Medical Center

Supervised by Kenji Taylor, MD

Covid-19 Symptoms typically develop within 2-14 days after exposure to the virus.

Explanation

The average incubation period for COVID-19 infection (period of time it takes to develop symptoms after infection) is about 5 days. Most people (98%) will develop wthin 12 days. However, a small number will develop symptoms as early as 2 days after exposure while a very small portion may develop symtoms as long as 14 days after exposure.

(References)

Lauer SA, Grantz KH, Bi Q, Jones FK, Zheng Q, Meredith HR, Azman AS, Reich NG, Lessler J. The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application. Ann Intern Med. 2020 May 5;172(9):577-582. doi: 10.7326/M20-0504. Epub 2020 Mar 10. PMID: 32150748; PMCID: PMC7081172.

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