Hi NoBoDe,
"Startling new figures in the NSW government’s weekly COVID surveillance report have unearthed a frightening fact. Many of those who have coronavirus, have no idea they’ve got it."Perhaps a more "
frightening fact" unearthed from gold-standard Gladys most recent COVID surveillance report is the fact that the NSW Government appear to have missed numerous reports published by the WHO since February repeatedly citing a significant rate and/or majority of COVID-19-positive patients being asymptomatic including this
memo from the WHO published over 9 months ago on 06 March 2020; and numerous Australian studies such as the Communicable Diseases Intelligence report published by the Australian Government Department of Health in July 2020 titled;
Asymptomatic COVID-19 or are we missing something?
Not withstanding other issues contributing to unreliable rates of asymptomatic COVID-19 being reported such as distinguishing between asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic a major discrepancy in asymptomatic case numbers being reported are clearly attributed to the various testing guidelines and contact tracing regimes, i.e. symptom-based screening requiring covid-19 symptoms to be present at time of testing should undoubtedly result in lower unreliable rates of asymptomatic cases whilst robust contact tracing and large scale screening of casual and close contacts with or without symptoms at time of testing would see higher and more reliable rates of asymptomatic cases.
Hardly a
'frightening fact' but rather I would've thought more indicative of a job well done in the early detection of the Avalon cluster, contact tracing and significant testing coverage across Sydney's Northern Beaches. Now the NSW Government must apply the same across greater Sydney and other known hotspots in preparation for the post incubation period following more laxed restrictions for Christmas on
'compassionate grounds' with small to large indoor gatherings permitted at hospitality venues, places of worship, and shopping centres etc - notable favorite spots for the aerosol (airborne) transmission of COVID-19.
