People with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 are not the driving force behind the spread of the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization.
Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said during a press conference on Monday that it is “very rare” for asymptomatic people to widely spread coronavirus. Van Kerkhove said contact tracing of those who tested positive found that very few asymptomatic carriers gave the virus to others.
“From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” she said. “We have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing. They’re following asymptomatic cases. They’re following contacts. And they’re not finding secondary transmission onward. It’s very rare.”
Stopping the spread of the coronavirus between asymptomatic carriers has been a top concern for public health experts around the globe because many young adults and children do not present symptoms when infected with COVID-19. If further data backs up the WHO’s claims, it could overhaul the actions being taken to curb the outbreak.
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Several policies, including mandates regarding the use of face masks, have been put into place to stop asymptomatic individuals from spreading the virus.
Van Kerkhove noted that more research must be done to “truly answer” questions about the threat of asymptomatic spreaders. She recommended that public health officials focus on containing symptomatic cases.
“What we really want to be focused on is following the symptomatic cases,” Van Kerkhove said, adding, “If we actually followed all of the symptomatic cases, isolated those cases, followed the contacts, and quarantined those contacts, we would drastically reduce [the outbreak].”
