A surprise announcement from World Health Organization’s Maria Van Kerkhove may turn out a game changer for virus transmission. She is WHO technical lead for coronavirus response, and head of emerging diseases and zoonosis transmissions from animals to humans. Maria told a media briefing on June 8, 2020 asymptomatic COVID-19 spread may be rare despite what we believed previously.
Research Confirms Asymptomatic COVID-19 Spread May Be Rare
A number of countries have conducted detailed tracing, and reported findings to the WHO. They have been tracking asymptomatic cases too, but have apparently not found secondary onward transmission there. This suggests asymptomatic COVID-19 spread may indeed be rare.
There is little published information on the topic. However, Maria is pushing hard to get more information from other sources. She knows the disease spreads though infectious droplets. Our goal could therefore be to concentrate all our efforts on infectious cases, and achieve a greater reduction in transmissions.
Some Asymptomatic Cases Become Mild Cases of the Disease
Maria Van Kerkhove told the Geneva media briefing how some asymptomatic people turn into mild cases of COVID-19 later. They may not have had a significant cough or shortness of breath previously, she explains. However, other confirmed cases show no symptoms at all, yet are able to transmit.
We therefore appear to have three classes of COVID-19 cases, asymptomatic, pre symptomatic, and those with symptoms. Results from Taiwan, and from the first German transmission suggest asymptomatic cases did not transmit the virus. Other studies suggest transmission only starts when symptoms appear.
Dr Fauci is America’s top infectious disease expert. He has advised six U.S. Presidents on HIV/AIDS and many other domestic and global health issues. He does not view testing asymptomatic patients the highest priority. We shall have to wait for the dust to settle. Before we know whether asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 is indeed rare.
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