The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a new study that reports presymptomatic transmission is responsible for some of the spread of the coronavirus.
The study was conducted by researchers in Singapore examining 243 confirmed cases of the coronavirus confirmed cases reported from January 19 to March 12. 157 of these cases are determined to be "locally transmitted", or those people with no travel history but has acquired the disease. The patients were interviewed to know about their activity over the past two weeks to determine how they may have become infected.
Presymptomatic in this case is defined as "the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from an infected person (source patient) to a secondary patient before the source patient developed symptoms, as ascertained by exposure and symptom onset dates, with no evidence that the second patient had been exposed to anyone else with COVID-19."
Researchers identified seven clusters of individuals where presymptomatic transmission is most likely t have happened. Each cluster is composed of at least two patients up to five, totaling 18 cases in all of the seven clusters. Among these cases, ten were attributed to presymptomatic transmission of the virus between people which accounts for approximately 6.4 percent of all locally acquired cases. This means that seemingly healthy people are responsible for a portion of the virus spread.
A quarter of Infected People in the US reports being Asymptomatic
Coronavirus infected cases in the U.S. have skyrocketed over 200,000 on Wednesday with at least 4, 669 number of death cases. More data are showing that people with no symptoms are fueling the spread of the virus in the United States.
In Iceland, 50 percent of those tested positive were asymptomatic. Likewise in the U.S., about 25% of COVID-19 carriers show no symptoms at all, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in an interview, "information that we have pretty much confirmed now is that a significant number of individuals that are infected remain asymptomatic. That may be as many as 25%."
Top infectious disease expert in the US says health officials are reconsidering guidelines on face masks to prevent further spread of the disease. If there is no problem of taking away masks from the health workers who need them most, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he would recommend the general public to wear face masks.
In case the Federal government recommends the use of face masks among its citizens, it would be a stark reversal from World Health Organization's and CDC's recommendations that face masks should only be worn by health workers, those who are sick, and those caregivers of sick people.
The organization is continuing to study the evidence about the use of face masks by the general public during this pandemic crisis, says Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on April 1.
Social Distancing Helps
A CNN count based on various state, county and city orders reported that almost 90% of the US population now lives in areas that have stay-at-home orders. Some people are calling for a national shelter-in-place order since this deadly virus is twice as contagious as the flu.
It seems that the country's social distancing efforts are paying off, including the US first coronavirus epicenter, Washington states King County, health officials say.
Dr. Jeff Duchin, the public health officer for Seattle and King County said that they are still looking at reductions in person-to-person contact that have more and more improved and have led people to a point where they are making a very positive impact.
