Unknowingly infected individuals may be spreading COVID as widely as those who’ve tested positive
CDC researchers are estimating that asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers account for at least half of all community transmissions. This includes carriers who never develop symptoms as well as those who later do.
Jay Butler, MD, the agency’s deputy director for infectious diseases, and colleagues used data from a meta-analysis of eight studies to calculate the proportion.
Their models took into account varying times from infection to times of elevated and peak contagiousness.
JAMA Network Open has posted the team’s report.
Butler and co-authors recommend strategic testing of evidently well people who work in or near crowded settings and those who know they were in close proximity to someone who turned out to have COVID.
“Multiple measures that effectively address transmission risk in the absence of symptoms are imperative to control SARS-CoV-2,” they write.
Full report here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.