A latest report that just may be every government's nightmare, reveals there may be a lot of people walking around who have Covid-19, but have no idea they are spreading the virus. Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr Robert Redfield was one of the first ones to throw caution to the wind way back in early April.
He had said, “One of the [pieces of] information that we have confirmed now is that a significant number of individuals that are infected actually remain asymptomatic. That may be as many as 25 per cent.” Shortly after, researchers in Iceland reported that 50 per cent of their Covid-19 cases who tested positive were asymptomatic. In another report, the CDC stated that researchers in Singapore identified seven clusters of cases in which pre-symptomatic transmission is the most likely explanation for the occurrence of secondary cases.
Redfield said, “Of those of us that get symptomatic, it appears that we’re shedding significant virus in our oropharyngeal compartment, probably up to 48 hours before we show symptoms. This helps explain how rapidly this virus continues to spread across the country because we have asymptomatic transmitters.”
So how exactly does transmission work? In an interview with Healthline, Infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, Dr William Schaffner said, “It isn't a strange idea with respiratory viruses that such an inadvertent transmission could take place. It’s to the virus’ benefit because if you have seemingly healthy people moving around spreading the virus, that maximizes the transmission.”
