Coronavirus symptoms can last much longer than initially thought, experts say

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that most Americans who have tested positive for coronavirus can return to work or school 10 days after the onset of symptoms, unless the illness requires hospitalization.

But new research suggest that the virus and its symptoms are often no where near finished by that benchmark, reports the CNN.

According to research published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal, patients may need to wait over a month before being retested to know whether they have cleared the virus.

The study also suggests that about one in five negative tests are false negatives, meaning many are still spreading the virus after testing negative without knowing it.

Even once patients do test negative, many patients are reporting that their symptoms -- from aches to loss of smell to brain fog and affected mood -- can last months longer.

"We think that this long-term damage may in part be due to vascular damage, kind of a footprint that the virus leaves even when it's gone from the body," scientsist said earlier this week, adding that researchers have seen the virus damaging blood vessels that connect the entire body.