Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is 'very rare,' WHO says [View all]Igel
(35,300 posts)The claim isn't that asymptomatics don't spread the virus. The claim is that it's not the primary or particularly common way.
That leaves "sometimes".
The second claim is that asymptomatics can spread the virus. That doesn't say it's the primary way. In fact, since it's often spread by sneezing and coughing, if you don't sneeze and cough that leaves speaking. Speaking can spread it because it forms droplets of varying sizes--every sibilant, affricate, even dental and palatal release bursts do so, and the more forceful the greater the production. Speaking tends to take what's on the articulators, the tongue or the inside of the mouth, and spit it out. If you're sympomatic, it means you're coughing and bringing up serious virus loads from the airways that get expelled by speech. Or you clear your throat to clear out mucus from the sinuses. Now, if you're not symptomatic, all that there is in your mouth is simple saliva, with a smaller load.
So if you're asymptomatic then you don't cough, sneeze, and your speech is even less infectious. That means it's not likely that most cases are produced by asymptomatics. That leaves "sometimes" as the right frequency.
I don't see backtrack; I see clarification. They've take "sometimes" from meaning "fairly frequently, but not mostly" down to "less frequently, but not zero."
Meanwhile, https://www.biospace.com/article/protein-associated-with-covid-19-may-be-less-common-in-children/ has come to my attention (thanks NPR), meaning that my assumption that all ages were equally at risk for contracting the disease upon exposure but differed in presentation of symptoms was skewed. (It does help explain why school closures keep showing little to negative effect on reduction of transmission rates.)