Hacker News Reader

Comment by Garlef | Hacker News Reader

> But the number of positive tests should have gone down considerably

> "Israeli study finds 94% drop in -> SYMPTOMATIC <- COVID-19 cases with Pfizer vaccine"

Asymptomatic cases still spread the virus.

They’re not saying there’s no decrease in asymptomatic cases, they’re saying they didn’t check for that. AstraZeneca’s study in the UK did surveillance testing of their study participants and found a significant drop in asymptomatic cases as well. Reasonable to assume the same is true with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

I find it inexcusable that moderna and pfizer decided to not test for asymptomatic at all, instead focusing on the subjective criterion of being symptomatic

It isn't sufficiently researched if asymptomatic, vaccinated cases still spread the virus in the same amount. The virus load spread by a vaccinated person can be expected to at least be lower, maybe even negligible or nonexistent.

Also, see the sibling comments about the difference between asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic.

Asymptomatic infection doesn't seem to exist. The current status of this belief amongst even the most panicked researchers is that "more data is needed":

https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4851

But a large scale study in Wuhan found no cases of asymptomatic transmission, and the same findings have been found elsewhere. NB: there is a difference between asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic. The latter sometimes can transmit.

I think when people here say Asymptomatic they are probably talking about people that had a very mild symptoms maybe a bit of sniffles or a blocked nose not the scientific Asymptomatic of no symptoms at all

Ah. Well if that's how people are using the term, what I said wouldn't apply to that. The term asymptomatic is clearly defined as "no symptoms at all and never develops any". Presymptomatic means "no symptoms at all but eventually develops some". I don't think there's a technical term for bit of sniffles/light cough beyond mild symptoms.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com