The nation's top infectious disease expert says half of the people spreading coronavirus may never feel sick. That’s more than anyone thought.
At Sunday’s White House briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, suggested that hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of “silent carriers” may be unwittingly spreading the coronavirus across the United States because they don’t realize they’re infected.
But is Fauci’s new estimate supported by science? And if so, what does it mean for the United States’ efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus and ultimately bring it under control? The first thing to note is that Fauci himself expressed a high degree of uncertainty about his own numbers. “I don’t have any scientific data to say that,” he admitted Sunday. “You know when we’ll get the scientific data? When we get those antibody tests out there and we really know what the penetrance is.
All of it pointed to the same conclusion: Silent carriers are real, and they are most likely infecting others. “Immediate symptoms” is an important distinction. There is a difference between being asymptomatic and presymptomatic . The latter looks like the former, until it doesn’t. The highest rate so far came from a biopharma company called deCODE, which has tested 9,000 nonsymptomatic, nonquarantined residents of Iceland on behalf of the country’s chief epidemiologist. Although fewer than 1 percent of the tests came back positive, the company’s founder told CNN that around 50 percent of those who tested positive said they didn’t feel sick.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Fauci said he tested negative for coronavirus SaturdayThe nation's top infectious disease expert said he tested negative for coronavirus Saturday when asked why he wasn't wearing a face mask as the pandemic spreads across the nation.
Read more »
Column: When it comes to coronavirus, she’s L.A.’s version of Dr. Fauci'A couple of months ago, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer was virtually unknown to most people. Now she’s such a familiar presence, appearing daily on TV with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Read more »
Fauci, Navarro reportedly got into a heated dispute over unproven coronavirus treatmentA fight broke out in the White House Situation Room on Saturday, after President Trump&39;s economic adviser Peter Navarro clashed with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, over an unproven COVID-19 coronavirus treatment, Axios reports. Four people
Read more »
'Doctors disagree all the time': Navarro drags Fauci feud into the publicWhite House trade adviser Peter Navarro took his reported dispute with the nation's top infectious disease expert out of the situation room and onto cable news
Read more »
Ignoring Fauci, Trump and White House Hacks Tout Unproven Coronavirus MedsIgnoring Fauci, Trump and White House hacks tout unproven coronavirus meds
Read more »