The Spread of COVID-19 Could Be Far More Extensive That We Know

[MineralMan]

Tests for the virus have not been available all that long.
The symptoms of illness caused by the virus resemble the symptoms of both the flu and the common cold.
80% of people who contract the disease have sub-clinical symptoms and don't seek medical care.

This novel virus could have been circulating in the population for far longer than has been reported. Only when it was possible to test for the virus was a potential pandemic recognized.

For example, earlier this winter, both my wife and I had a nasty chest cold. It never developed any upper respiratory tract symptoms, but only had bronchitis and a bad cough as its symptoms, along with some tiredness. Neither of us sought treatment; we just used OTC remedies. After two weeks, the symptoms were gone. Others we know had a similar thing. I have no idea what virus caused our chest cold. Nobody does, because we never saw a doctor, who wouldn't have tested for anything anyhow.

In some ways, that is the most dangerous part of this disease. It could have been spreading for a long time before anyone noticed. Now, however, we know about the COVID-19 virus and testing is available, although tests in the USA, so far, have had to be done by the CDC, after sending samples to that organization.

In some ways, that could be cause not to panic over this. It might already be circulating in your own community without causing any alarm.

[Wounded Bear]

1. I suspect we're far past "could be"...

Russia isn't reporting anything, Iran's numbers are way out of whack, so they're probably hiding something.

How many thousands of people traveled to China in the months before they first went public with it?

Shit be getting real.

[MineralMan]

2. You could be right about that.

Until a test was available for the virus, we had no idea who had it, really.

[RKP5637]

3. Very troubling are also those cases wherein it seems to go dormant

after treatment ... and then come back ... wondering how much could be spread after one has supposedly recovered. This, is really nasty stuff!

[dalton99a]

4. In most healthy people, symptoms are mild and resolve themselves without treatment

[Wounded Bear]

7. But they're still contagious...

so they can spread it to folks who will have more serious problems.

[dalton99a]

8. True.

It's the sick and elderly who are at risk

[CountAllVotes]

9. Sick and old

That describes my household.

Will we die because of this?

[tulipsandroses]

6. That is very possible. One of the things I wonder about is how many vulnerable

people could be impacted. People tend to think of immunocompromised as people with cancer and HIV. But people with diabetes that is UNCONTROLLED are sometimes immunocompromised. Addiction can also make someone immunocompromised. So with those 2 things, diabetes and addiction - a lot of vulnerable folks here and we are dealing with something we are not familiar with.

That's why I really think this is the lowest thing Trump and his administration has done. Saying this is a hoax and nothing to see here. Instead of making sure we get a handle on this, all hands on deck before those who are vulnerable are the ones to pay the price.

Most people who are not immunocompromised will probably rid themselves of the virus and be just fine. What about those that are more vulnerable? This is an unfamiliar virus to their bodies. What resistance can their bodies mount to fight this?

I suppose if it happens in those populations, they get to say, well they already had all those other complications.......... so not our fault.

[CousinIT]

10. With no working test kits widely available, US isn't testing most people.

In fact we are not testing people as much as other countries are because we have no available means to do so.

Once the kits are available and testing starts, we'll see a big uptick in infections. Not necessarily new ones but ones we didn't know about because almost no one is being tested.

So I'm expecting that.

[tblue37]

13. The U.S. also charges people a of for the testing, which will keep us in ignorance. nt

[lostnfound]

11. I know of someone who recently died suddenly of pneumonia after a very short illness

He was a super nice, well-liked older man.
I am scared for the 80-somethings in my life. It ain’t just about the young and healthy.

What has or has not been recognized may include some rapid pneumonia cases along with recovery stories like yours.

[MineralMan]

12. Without the test, one cannot know that an illness is caused by COVID-19.

There are millions of cases of some respiratory illness at all times in this country. Someone always has a cold or the flu. Worse, various strains of the coronavirus family of viruses cause almost half of common colds.

Nobody takes colds seriously. We all go out and go to work or shopping with a cold. We don't even consider ourselves to be sick, most of the time - unless we can get away with it, anyhow.

As with most coronavirus-caused respiratory infections, COVID-19 typically acts like the common cold. Only in some cases does it cause pneumonia and require treatment or hospitalization. So, any of us with a cough and upper respiratory symptoms might have a COVID-19 infection. But, without testing, it's impossible to tell what caused it.

I really suspect this is already more widespread than people think.