86% of people with coronavirus are walking around undetected, study says
Jackie Salo | March 17, 2020 | 10:15am“Stealth†coronavirus cases are fueling the pandemic, with a staggering 86% of people infected walking around undetected, a new study says.
Six of every seven cases – 86% — were not reported in China before travel restrictions were implemented, driving the spread of the virus, according to a
study Monday in the journal Science.
https://nypost.com/2020/03/17/86-of-people-with-coronavirus-are-walking-around-undetected-study-says/
Two things to take away from this. First, for every known case based on symptoms (and subsequent testing), there are six other cases of infection without symptoms. Which means that in a country without widespread testing (such as the US), the number of infected is much larger than reported (as is the probability of transmission). But on the flip side, it means that the death rate is far lower than is being reported.
In areas that are performing more testing (e.g. Hong Kong, Germany, etc.), reported fatality rates should be much lower.