It was news to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that the coronavirus can be spread by people who don’t show any symptoms of the illness.
The fact that asymptomatic people, especially younger people, can spread the coronavirus without feeling ill has been one of the leading reasons behind the massive social distancing guidelines being implemented throughout the country. During a press conference on Wednesday, Kemp admitted that he had delayed issuing a stay-at-home order for his state because he and Georgia Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey didn’t know asymptomatic people could spread the virus until just recently.
“Finding out that this virus is now transmitting before people see signs. So what we’ve been telling people from directives from the CDC for weeks now that if you start feeling bad, stay home,” Kemp explained. “Those individuals could’ve been infecting people before they ever felt bad. But we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours. And as Dr. Toomey told me, … this is a game-changer for us.”
A reporter followed up with Kemp’s remarks, asking, “Did I understand you to say that the tipping point for the shelter-in-place order was that you’ve learned in the last 24 hours that people can be asymptomatic throughout the disease and still spread? It seems like that’s been clear for a while.”
Kemp responded, “I’ll let Dr. Toomey speak to that, but we’ve been doing two calls a day, every day, for well over a month, and last night, Dr. Toomey said on that call, and we talked about it again today, that this new information that came from CDC was a game changer.”
Toomey explained that she was aware of some evidence of asymptomatic spread but claimed that she was basing her response to the coronavirus on CDC guidelines, which recommend only testing patients presenting symptoms.
The incubation period for the coronavirus can be as long as two weeks, meaning that patients may not have a fever or start coughing for as long as 14 days while spreading the virus. Some, especially younger patients, may never present significant symptoms of COVID-19 while carrying the disease.
Kemp did have several social distancing guidelines in place prior to the stay-at-home order he announced on Wednesday. As of Thursday morning, Georgia had more than 4,700 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 154 related deaths.
