Shedding of culturable virus, seroconversion, and 6-month follow-up antibody responses in the first 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States.

We aimed to characterize presence of culturable virus in clinical specimens during acute illness, and antibody kinetics up to six months post-onset, among 14 early US COVID-19 patients. We isolated viable SARS-CoV-2 from rRT-PCR-positive respiratory specimens collected during days 0-8 post-onset, but not after. All 13 patients with two or more serum specimens developed anti-spike antibodies; 12 developed detectable neutralizing antibodies. We did not isolate virus after detection of neutralizing antibodies. Eight participants provided serum at six months post-onset; all retained detectable anti-spike IgG, and half had detectable neutralizing antibodies. Two participants reported not feeling fully recovered at six months. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2021. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.