NORFOLK, Va. — Medical leaders say some people are infecting others with coronavirus without realizing they're contagious themselves, illustrating a need for social distancing and the challenges in combating COVID-19.
In this case, asymptomatic transmission is when a person carries the new coronavirus and infects others, all while not displaying any symptoms of the virus.
Asymptomatic transmissions make it harder to identify and contain an outbreak, as health leaders must do more than just isolate people who are clearly sick.
“How do we keep them from spreading the virus to other people?" asked Dr. Brian Martin, Director of the MPH program at EVMS.
A seemingly healthy person could be a catalyst, infecting other people who could be more at risk for serious illness.
“It makes it hard to track where the outbreaks are going to occur and so what might look like a healthy population could be transmitting it to others unknowingly," Martin said.
One main way to address asymptomatic transmission is through social distancing and stay-at-home orders, ideally containing the contact between individuals who may or may not display any signs of the virus.
“Maintaining that social distance can help us get through it that much quicker and get us back to some level of normalcy that we’re clearly not at right now," said Tom Schmidt, graduating medical student in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
It's important to remember that transmission is compounded. It’s not just that 2 people infect 4 people, who infect 6 people, who infect 8. The number of infected doubles with each step. It’s 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 and so on.
So, if someone who feels fine stays at home, follows social distancing, they could keep from infecting hundreds of people.
Schmidt says new data reveals some patients can be asymptomatic for days before showing any signs of COVID-19, and even then cases can be mild and patients might not seek medical treatment.
Right now, most states are only testing patients with significant symptoms of COVID-19. That leaves a big gap for contagious people with mild or no symptoms.
“Those are people that we’re not testing at this point, and so there are a lot of people out there we just don’t know are infected at this point," Schmidt said. “I think increasing our testing capability is a big issue we want to correct.”
Increased widespread testing and strict social distancing are two primary ways to address this pandemic, according to medical leaders.
“It just means we need to be very vigilant in how we’re interacting in our communities," Martin said. "We're learning about it day-to-day, even hourly at times.
The CDC says asymptomatic transmission is “not thought to be the main way” coronavirus spreads. However, medical experts say new data shows it could be playing a larger role than initially expected.