“Silent spreader” could account for half of coronavirus cases – Boston News, Weather, Sports

(CNN)—Do you remember “Typhoid Mary” Marron? She is an Irish immigrant who worked as a family cook in New York, contaminated typhoid fever with at least 122 people and killed five in the 1880s.

As The first known healthy carrier of bacterial diseaseMalone, transmitted by fecal toxins, refused to believe in the asymptomatic conduit of typhoid fever. She refused to give stool specimens to authorities, she continued to spread the bacteria in an unsanitary manner, was caught and quarantined twice for a total of 26 years, and died alone without a friend.

No one wants to think of themselves as a Covid-19 super spreader, but a new study suggests that “silent transmission” (the spread of the virus by people with no apparent symptoms) could be responsible for half of it all. The idea was supported. New coronavirus cases in the United States.

Asymptomatic people, or infection for days before symptoms appear, are the major drivers of Covid-19 transmission, Published in the minutes of the National Academy of Sciences on MondayFound

Research estimates that more than one-third of silent infections need to be identified and isolated to control future outbreaks.

Data from Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday morning report that 31 states have a higher incidence of new Covid-19 cases this week compared to last week. According to the data, another 15 states are stable and only four are in a downtrend.

“We are still very deep in this first wave,” Dr. Anthony Forch, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said Monday at a Facebook / Twitter livestream event.

“And this wouldn’t be considered a wave. Fauci said that this was a surge or re-emergence of baseline-overlapped infections that never actually reached their intended location. “So it’s a serious situation that needs immediate attention.”

Subclinical or presymptomatic spread

Alison Galvani, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Modeling and Analysis at Yale University and colleagues, used the coronavirus infection model to determine how silent infections contribute to the spread of Covid-19.

They build on existing research showing that asymptomatic infections account for 17.9% to 30.8% of all infections.

Assuming 17.9% of cases were asymptomatic, the team found that presymptomatic people accounted for 48% of infections and asymptomatic people accounted for 3.4% of infections.

When 30.8% of cases were asymptomatic, it was found that pre-infected people accounted for 47% of infections and asymptomatic people accounted for 6.6% of infections.

The model assumes that Covid-19 may be the most contagious in the pre-symptomatic stage. This is rare in respiratory infections. The team found that immediate isolation of all symptomatic cases was not sufficient to control spread.

Research shows that to reduce future outbreaks to less than 1% of the population, it is necessary to identify and isolate at least one-third of silent transmitters in addition to all symptomatic cases It was.

The researchers stressed the need for both testing and contact tracking to safely lift current social distance and home restrictions.

What you can do

Believe in the power of masks Recent studies have shown that it works if worn properly.. Even if you are not symptomatic of an infectious disease, wearing them in public places or with people who are not in the’quarantine bubble’ will help prevent silent infections.

Even with a mask, stay away from the crowds and 6 feet from those who are not in a “bubble”. If you do this, please limit yourself to an outdoor location with good air circulation and filtration. Keep your hands away from your face.

Learn from the mistakes of Typhoid Mary. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. And if some public health officials tell you that you need to take precautions, don’t ignore them. Mary may have died alone after 26 years of forced quarantine, but there is still time to help keep yourself, your loved ones, and the strangers around you safe.

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