-
On Tuesday, Dr. Sandra Ciesek, director of the Institute of Medical Virology in Frankfurt, Germany, tested 24 passengers who had just flown in from Israel.
Seven of the 24 passengers tested positive for coronavirus. Four of those had no symptoms, and Ciesek was surprised to find that the viral load of the specimens from the asymptomatic patients was higher than the viral load of the specimens from the three patients who did have symptoms.
CDC officials have said that while it’s clear asymptomatic spread does happen, it does not appear to be the driver of the outbreak — or as the CDC says on its website, asymptomatic transmission “is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
“If I were writing that CDC webpage today, I would phrase that a little more towards transmission before symptoms show up,” Colijn said.