What the CDC says about the spread of the coronavirus

There’s a great reason America’s top infectious disease specialist isn’t meeting with his family outside his home on Thanksgiving this year.

People infected without symptoms, who might be feeling well, continue to unintentionally spread the coronavirus on a large scale.

In fact, the CDC recently released an updated science note noting the coronavirus – which has already killed well over a quarter of a million Americans since February – spread mainly by asymptomatic or presymptomatic people (meaning they don’t have symptoms yet). This is one of the main reasons why the public health agency recommends that everyone wear masks in public and also suggests celebrating Thanksgiving only with the people in your household.

The coronavirus is a particularly insidious parasite because the hosts (us) are often unaware that we are carriers of a pathogen that is actively multiplying in our airways. There can be no telltale symptoms.

“This means that at least half of new infections come from people who probably don’t know they are infectious to others,” the CDC noted in a separate report on transmission and masks, updated on 16. November. Specifically, some 24% of those who transmit the virus will never show symptoms and 35% are pre-symptomatic. (Although the total number of asymptomatic infected people is between 40 and 45%, not everyone transmits the disease.)

Some might argue that people can “safely” visit family members on Thanksgiving Day by getting tested early and testing negative, before walking around to someone’s house for a long feast. . It’s wrong. Usually, it takes days for the virus to show potentially detectable levels in a diagnostic test (such as a PCR test, which tests for genetic material). Of course, you can test negative a day after you fly somewhere. But that doesn’t make sense.

“For example, it’s not a good idea to fly to Boston on a crowded flight, take a COVID-19 diagnostic test within a day or two of arrival, and then, based on a negative result, to visit your elderly grandparents, ”according to MIT Medical, a medical clinic in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “The only thing the negative test can tell you is that at this exact moment your sample did not show viral levels high enough to be measured reliably.”

There is undoubtedly “light at the end of the tunnel” when it comes to tackling COVID-19, especially from promising vaccine candidates. But the first vaccinations, if approved urgently by the FDA, won’t start until December, and many Americans are unlikely to be vaccinated for many months, possibly in the spring, according to Dr. Anthonly Fauci, head of health care. infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

This is why masks remain vital, and gathering indoors with other people in a nationwide third wave remains insane. The reported cases are increasing, significantly, almost everywhere. At least we know that wearing masks in public spaces, such as when we are shopping for groceries, significantly reduces the spread of the coronavirus. Here’s a vivid example: In Kansas, counties that have implemented a mask warrant since July 3 have seen a 6% decrease in COVID-19 cases. On the other hand, counties without a warrant saw a 100% increase in cases, according to the CDC.

But at the Thanksgiving table, the masks will come off. The virus is powerless without us, relying on hosts to spread, which we do while talking, breathing, sneezing and beyond. We empower the virus.

“This is a virus that we know people are very happy to take advantage of because of people’s neglect,” Dr. Vince Silenzio, a physician and professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, told Mashable.

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