First, I will say that I believe we will not have the true picture on Covid for 20-30 years. The stigma of what team you are playing for will have to dissolve before we will be able to sit down and look at real data without a bias.
with that said, this paragraph says it all:
PCR testing “measures whether there is any virus detected in the nasal swabs, irrespective of whether it is alive or dead,” Siedner explained. “Viral culture is a marker of contagiousness, with the presumption that the virus still needs to be alive to be able to be transmitted.”
This Reuters article is damage control to some degree. The study isn’t wrong. But it’s far from perfect. Mainly because you have 66 people in the study.
But the above quote means viral particles were detected (whether dead or alive) in the nose with PCR. Viral cultures are pickythings - and often times inaccurate. If you grow the virus then great, you have a positive. If not, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t there - just that you didn’t grow it.
Vaccinated people had viral particles in their nose longer than non vaccinated. Period. That’s all this study says. You could argue they would be infective longer (it makes common sense). But it’s not proven By this study. Just highly suggestive.
JC
