SARS-CoV-2 shedding and infectivity

We thank Barry Atkinson and Eskild Petersen for their comments on our Article describing the clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China.1 We agree that the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral RNA in a respiratory specimen cannot be directly interpreted as a potential for disease transmission and infection.