TRUE: SHARE
Claim:
COVID-19 has a long incubation period and can take up to two weeks to show symptoms.
Answer:
True, the average time for symptoms to show is 5-6 days, but can be as long as two weeks.
FURTHER INFORMATION
This video is an interview of Dr Michelle Gordon by Dr. Vuong, who is a renowned weight loss surgeon and author. Dr Gordon is a general surgeon and hormone specialist who has been working at a hospital in New York and gives her view of what it is like to care for patients with COVID-19.
In the video Dr Gordon says that the incubation period for COVID-19 is quite long, which is why it is spreading so much and taking a while to show up in some places. An incubation period for a virus or bacterial illness is the time between when you contract a virus and when your symptoms start. Dr Gordon says that the virus can show no symptoms for up to two weeks, but the average is 5.2 days.
This is true, according to the WHO the time between exposure to COVID-19 and the moment when symptoms start is commonly around five to six days but can range from 1 – 14 days. The typical symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, dry cough, tiredness, aches and pains, nasal congestion, sore throat and diarrhea.
SOURCES
WHO: Q&A on coronaviruses (Covid-19)
Healthline: How long is the incubation period for coronavirus?
Origins of Claim
FULL TEXT OF CLAIM
“The biggest issue is, and the people who haven’t seen it yet it’s slowly making its way. It’s everywhere, but it takes 14-15 days to manifest itself.
Yeah I think it’s on average a 5-7 day incubation period?
The average is 5.2 day incubation period, which is a long time if you figure that the common cold is 1.8 days or so. And so if it’s not in your area yet, even if you’re staying in, it’s coming.”
