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Comment by breadzeppelin__ | Hacker News Reader

> less symptoms == less transmissibility

doesn't really hold up when asymptomatic spread (no symptoms at all) has been one of the main concerns for the entire pandemic

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Sure, but everything also said its spread through the air...no coughing == less droplets. The spread concern would be if people aren't taking the same precautions because they aren't showing symptoms, but if still wearing masks or social distancing then the transmission should be less.

That being said most people aren't taking precautions any more because of this...I've seen people directly exposed for up to 2 days to someone with COVID w/ symptoms who then gets an immediate negative test and goes on with their life and not wearing masks in public/work. No amount of yelling or shaming does any good when people are oblivious to their own self destructive behavior.

It’s important to distinguish between asymptomatic infection and presymptomatic infection. The biggest problem with COVID-19 compared to previous forms of SARS viruses is its ability to spread before the onset of symptoms, which is different from someone displaying no symptoms at all from infection.

I’m not completely sure how infectious an asymptomatic infection is, but i just wanted to note a lot of the concern has actually been about presymptomatic infection.

Both asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission are possible. [1] And there has been a lot of published concern about both.

[1] https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/4/20-4576_article

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