Italian disease expert: 90 percent of new COVID cases so mild people don’t even know they have it

Italian disease expert: 90 percent of new COVID cases so mild people don’t even know they have it

The vast majority of Italy’s latest wave of COVID-19 infections are asymptomatic, according to an Italian expert on infectious diseases. This means that the symptoms are so mild or next to nothing that most people who have contracted the virus don’t even know they have it. It also indicates that there will be a lowered risk of a deadly “second wave” of the virus.

Dr. Matteo Bassetti, president of the Italian Society of Anti-infection Therapy (SITA) and director of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino Hospital in Genoa, said Thursday that more than 90 percent of these cases did not display symptoms, “which means they are not sick,” they should still be quarantined as a precaution, he said, but should not scare people into expecting a “second wave.”

Multiple studies, out of the United States and China, have previously found low rates of COVID-19 transmitted from carriers without symptoms. In June, the World Health Organization said asymptomatic spread was “very rare,” but quickly “clarified” its position in response to backlash, saying the true likelihood of asymptomatic spread was still unknown.

 



 

 

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