4 ms·

Only 6% of the subjects in that study were asymptomatic by their definition. I think this is a confusion of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic: most cases will ha

Only 6% of the subjects in that study were asymptomatic by their definition. I think this is a confusion of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic: most cases will have a few days of pre-symptomatic infection regardless of the symptoms they have later.

mrfusion 6y ago
I think it might be a good point but I’m not quite understanding. Why does 6% matter if the statistical significance works out? Also I can’t seem to see how you’re saying the study has asymptomatic and presymptomatic confused. (I don’t have a great background in all this so I could def be missing this.)
- comicjk 6y ago
  The study is fine, but the way it's using the word "asymptomatic" is not consistent with the conclusion you drew from it, and the 6% shows why. A case which is "asymptomatic" in the study has no noticeable symptoms through the whole course of infection. If you know in advance that you're that kind of case, then you're less likely to spread the disease. But 94% of cases are not that kind of case, and no test except waiting a couple of weeks can distinguish asymptomatic from pre-symptomatic. Information that's not available until 14 days from now can't be used to determine who should wear a mask today. https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-how-is-it-transmitted https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease... "What is the difference between people who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic? Don’t they both mean someone without symptoms?" "Both terms refer to people who do not have symptoms. The difference is that ‘asymptomatic’ refers to people who are infected but never develop any symptoms, while ‘pre-symptomatic’ refers to infected people who have not yet developed symptoms but go on to develop symptoms later."
  - mrfusion 6y ago
    Thanks for further explaining. It seems like we’re working off different facts. This says 25% to 80% of infected are asymptomatic. So it’s pretty awesome if this study supports the idea that they’re not very contagious. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/50-percent-of-people-with-covid19-not-aware-have-virus https://www.healthline.com/health-news/50-percent-of-people-... BTW. I’ll read through the original study I posted to see how they handle presymptomatic. And you certainly raise a good point that there’s no way to know is you’re presymptomatic.

mrfusion 6y ago

I think it might be a good point but I’m not quite understanding. Why does 6% matter if the statistical significance works out? Also I can’t seem to see how you’re saying the study has asymptomatic and presymptomatic confused. (I don’t have a great background in all this so I could def be missing this.)

comicjk 6y ago
The study is fine, but the way it's using the word "asymptomatic" is not consistent with the conclusion you drew from it, and the 6% shows why. A case which is "asymptomatic" in the study has no noticeable symptoms through the whole course of infection. If you know in advance that you're that kind of case, then you're less likely to spread the disease. But 94% of cases are not that kind of case, and no test except waiting a couple of weeks can distinguish asymptomatic from pre-symptomatic. Information that's not available until 14 days from now can't be used to determine who should wear a mask today. https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-how-is-it-transmitted https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease... "What is the difference between people who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic? Don’t they both mean someone without symptoms?" "Both terms refer to people who do not have symptoms. The difference is that ‘asymptomatic’ refers to people who are infected but never develop any symptoms, while ‘pre-symptomatic’ refers to infected people who have not yet developed symptoms but go on to develop symptoms later."
- mrfusion 6y ago
  Thanks for further explaining. It seems like we’re working off different facts. This says 25% to 80% of infected are asymptomatic. So it’s pretty awesome if this study supports the idea that they’re not very contagious. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/50-percent-of-people-with-covid19-not-aware-have-virus https://www.healthline.com/health-news/50-percent-of-people-... BTW. I’ll read through the original study I posted to see how they handle presymptomatic. And you certainly raise a good point that there’s no way to know is you’re presymptomatic.