Most of those infected with Covid are asymptomatic and this could favor transmission exponentially, especially now that the taxes relating to the use of protective devices have been relaxed. If a cough or sneeze in the supermarket checkout line can cause alarm, remember that even a person who has no symptoms, but who is not wearing a mask, could be potentially dangerous. From a study published in JAMA Network Open it emerges that infected but asymptomatic or presymptomatic subjects are about 60 percent of the total. A figure destined to increase, given that it seems that those infected by Omicron are in a greater percentage asymptomatic, unlike what happened with the previous variants.
Omicron, how many times can you be reinfected? Experts: “You also get infected twice a year and long Covid”
Because Omicron infected are asymptomatic
One hypothesis is that this new trend depends on the fact that the world population has a base immunity level higher than in previous months. This is explained by Dr. Helen Chu, full professor of infectious diseases at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Chu said the higher the exposure to Covid-19, in terms of previous infection or vaccination, the higher the immunity and the better the ability to control the virus. For this reason, infection with mild or absent symptoms should become more and more common. Months ago, the percentage of asymptomatic infected was only about 25 percent.
The opinion of the experts
“There is still no data on whether Omicron’s sub-variants cause more asymptomatic infections,” said Dr. Otto Yang, infectious disease physician at the University of California’s David Geffen School of Medicine – but the population’s high levels of immunity they put the United States in a completely different situation than before, when there were no vaccines and few people were infected ». However, both Chu and Yang point out that the high rate of asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission makes it necessary to continue with containment measures, especially to protect unvaccinated children under 5 and the immunosuppressed. Yang also warned that constant transmission of the virus makes it easier for further, potentially more dangerous, variants to develop. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, in February, more than half of the U.S. population was infected, including 75 percent of children and adolescents.