CDC: More than half of those infected have been infected by asymptomatic people

A new model from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that more than half of people infected with a Chinese virus (coronavirus) are infected from asymptomatic patients.

According to the model, published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, an estimated 59% of covirovirus infections were transmitted from asymptomatic patients, including 24% of infected patients who never showed symptoms of Covid-19, and 35% of infected patients who were “pre-symptomatic.” Some people do not initially show symptoms, but eventually do, and the period before symptoms is known as “pre-symptoms.”

“The results of this study suggest that identifying and isolating symptomatic patients with CoviD-19 alone will not control the continued spread of SARS-CoV-2.” “The researchers wrote in describing their results.

The model supports the preventive measures that experts have been recommending for months, such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance.

“The bottom line is that really controlling a Covid-19 pandemic requires controlling a silent pandemic spread by asymptomatic people,” Jay C. Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases at the CDC and co-author of the study, told The Washington Post.

“The community mitigation tools we have need to be widely used in order to be able to slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2 to all infected people, at least until we have widespread access to these vaccines.”

Effective control of the spread of CCV will require reducing the risk of transmission from asymptomatic people and identifying and isolating people with symptoms of Covid-19, the study authors wrote.

The findings suggest that “measures such as mask wearing, hand hygiene, social isolation and strategic testing of those who do not develop the disease will be the basis for slowing the spread of CoviD-19 until a safe and effective vaccine is available and widely used.” “The report’s authors wrote.

The outbreak in the United States shows no sign of abating. At least 274,703 new cases were confirmed in the United States on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University, and an additional 4,085 people died, setting another record for the number of deaths in a single day in the United States and the first time the death toll in a single day has exceeded 4,000.