As California Prepares To Reopen Coronavirus ‘Silent Spreaders’ Now Pose A Bigger Threat

Health officials in California have growing concerns about the state easing their stay-at-home orders as those who are unaware that they have the coronavirus puts others at a greater risk.

Experts believe that once the state reopens, Presymptomatic transmission could take place, which takes a couple of days from the moment a person is infected, and infect others before they begin to show signs that they are infected, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Another version of transmission is the asymptomatic transmission, which is when infected people don’t show signs of having the coronavirus, but still can spread it.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there’s a 20%-to-50% chance that those who test positive for the coronavirus do not show symptoms.

“The best way to protect yourself, and others in case you, yourself, were infected is to treat it as though everyone is potentially infected,” said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a medical epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “Keep that social distancing. And keep that masking on.”

Once the state opens, the rate of infections can increase within a matter of two weeks as the result of mass groups gathering closely together without wearing masks, an expert warns.

“Social distancing is absolutely critical,” Dr. Deborah Birx said. “And if you can’t social distance, and you’re outside, you must wear a mask. These are items that are really critical to protect individuals.”

The White House’s coronavirus response coordinator then spoke on the importance of finding a way to identify asymptomatic cases.

“We’ve made it clear that there’s asymptomatic spread, and that means that people are spreading the virus unknowingly,” Birx said. And this is unusual in the case of respiratory diseases … so you don’t know who’s infected.”

She continued:

“What I’m worried about is: What are we putting in place to find asymptomatic cases? All of this proactive testing needs to be in place and needs to continue to be in place because that will determine safely remaining open in the fall.”