When National Institutes of Health [NIH] Chief of Infections disease and Allergy 80-year-old Dr. Anthony Fauci said April 5 that some 25% to 50% of all coronavirus AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19 cases are asymptomaic, it threw infectious disease experts for a loop. Knowing the individuals without symptoms can spread the disease within the population presents real challenges for infectious disease specialists. Research has shown that seasonal flu viruses have a 2% to 28% aysmptomatic, even greater now with coronavirus. It’s counterintuitive that people without symptoms, including fever, chills, cough, fatigue, etc., would be just as contagious as anyone with typical symptoms. Yet if Fauci’s correct, asymptomatic cases pose a vexing problem for the infectious disease experts, hoping to slow the virus spread by using know mitigation methods, like “shelter in place” and distancing.
Recent data recovered from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt provides a windfall of information to immunologists. Testing nearly the entire 4,800 crew since its Captain Brett Crozier reported April 3 that a number of his crew were coming down with coronavirus has confirmed Fauci’s original estimate of aymptomatic cases. Crozier was fired April 7 by Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly for not following Navy protocol, only to watch Trump leap into action, resulting in Modly resigning April 7, after making some crude public remarks about Crozier. Trump didn’t want to lose a highly trained carrier captain over a single incident, which he attributed to “having a bad day.” Crozier learned his lesson and was reinstated April 15 as captain of the Theodore Roosevelt now docked tin Guam where the entire crew has been tested and analyzed.
Navy reported that about 94% of the ship’s 4,800 were tested for coronavirus. Of the 600 testing positive for SARS CoV-2, 360 or 60% had no symptoms, falling into the aymptomatic variety. For a deadly virus for some people, it has a high percentage of aymptomatic cases, estimated by Fauci as 25% to 50%. When it comes to the Theodore Rossevelt, there’s a higher percentage of younger, more fit members of the testing pool than the normal population. When you consider that some 10% of Covid-19 cases require hospitalization and life-support, like ventilators, it’s astounding that 60% of sailors infected with the virus have no symptoms at all. “With regard to Covid-19, we’re learning that stealth in the form of asymptomatic transmission is the adversary’s secret power,” said Navy Surgeon General, Rear Admiral Bruce Gillingham, surprised by the high percentage.
Epidemiologists can’t get a handle on coronvirus unless the government tests every man, woman and child in the country, not knowing the percent of the population that could spread the disease without knowing it. “It has revealed a new dynamic of this virus: That it can be carried by normal, healthy people who have no idea whatsoever that they are carrying it,” said Defense Secretary Mark Esper on NBC’s ”Today” show. Pentagon officials deploying on land, sea and air, must test every soldier, seaman and airman to find out who’s spreading the virus. Testing the military’s 1.3 million members is no easy task, especially with the kind of obsolete testing equipment now available Acquiring Abbott Lab’s new five-minute PCR [Polymerase Chain Reaction] testing machines won’t happen anytime soon, as hospitals, clinics and labs scramble to upgrade their testing equipment.
With the U.S. now the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, Trump finds himself fighting a multi-front war, not least of which is the World Health Organization [WHO]. Trump suspended funding for WHO pending an investigation into why they waited nearly three months before declaring Wuhan-based SARS CoV-2 a global pandemic March 11. WHO tweeted Jan. 14 they found no human-to-human transmission in China. “Preliminary investigations by Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronvirus (2019 nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,” WHO tweeted. WHO’s Director General knew that that China was battling a spiraling epidemic, allowing millions of infected Chinese citizens to travel to Europe, and United States and other popular destinations during the holidays and Chinese New Year.
Trump works feverishly on plans to reopen the country, from his 30-day “shelter in place” order, now followed by most governors around the country. Reopening the country isn’t an easy knowing that certain host spots like New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Louisiana still have growing numbers of infections, leaving the U.S. with 673,086 cases and 34,376 deaths. Testing advocates like mega-billionaire philanthropist former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates thinks that every many, woman and child must be tested before it’s safe to reopen the country. “The findings are of enormous interest because the proportion of people who are aymptomatic is just simply not known,” said Vanderbilt University infectious disease specialist William Schaffner. Whether governors, mayors or infectious disease experts like it or not, the country will have to open without everyone in the country getting tested.
