What the data say about asymptomatic COVID infections

People without symptoms can pass on the virus, but estimating their contribution to outbreaks is challenging.

Bianca Nogrady

Bianca Nogrady

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How many people don’t experience any symptoms after becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2? And what is their role in spreading COVID-19? These have been key questions since the beginning of the pandemic.

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Nature 587, 534-535 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03141-3

Updates & Corrections

Correction 20 November 2020: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that studies analyzed in the Cevik, M. et al meta-analysis had measured viral particles in the blood. Particle numbers were measured in throat swabs.
Correction 23 November 2020: This article has been updated with the correct affiliation for Krutika Kuppalli.

References

Byambasuren, O. et al. J. Assoc. Med. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. Can. https://doi.org/10.3138/jammi-2020-0030 (2020).
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Bi, Q. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.04.20225573 (2020).
Cevik, M. et al. Preprint at SSRN https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3677918 (2020).

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