Opinions please - MIL care home tested positive but asymptomatic

[OldQueen1969]

Well 2020 is definitely the year that just keeps on giving......

I lost my Mum to cancer just over a month ago and we are muddling through sorting her affairs reasonably well - obviously am pretty devastated but trying to fuction.

My MIL who I cared for for 18 months before her dementia got too bad for us to handle safely is in a care home now. Today my DP had the call that she (74) has tested positive for the virus along with 3 or 4 others - but currently they are asymptomatic.

Obviously no-one knows when or how she became infected - lockdown has been strictly observed and some staff even lived in to minimise risk and we are very much of the opinion that it is what it is - so what I'm really looking for is anyone with knowledge or experience of this kind of scenario and thoughts on the likelihood of her becoming actually ill with it....... which is probably not possible, but we're the types who like as much info as possible in order to manage our thoughts and anxieties etc.

I can't allow myself to dwell on the problems and effects of her having to be isolated etc because I might just lose my shit as I've seen enough suffering since Christmas to last me a lifetime, and my DP is trying to remain stoic......

So hit me with science and risk assessments etc if you can - I know many people on this board have lots of insight and experience and I would be very grateful.

I do think that its worth bearing in mind that many, many more people have had this than the current statistics suggest. When they say, 4% of the population, 10% of Londoners, etc, (not accurate figures btw) I disregard this. There is increasing evidence that the virus has been around longer, and if so, it was here way before social distancing etc., and therefore many, many people had it earlier in the year, were asymptomatic, or had what they brushed off as a minor/normal cold. Or even heavy cold. And, crucially, they carried on with their normal lives, seeing people, visiting older relatives in care homes and otherwise, and thereby infecting others, including elderly, who didn't get the virus, or managed it as they did all the usual bugs around. This is why I think a lot of elderly people cope with it well, and don't always develop symptoms.

Someone I know is testing lots of people in many different care homes.. she says there are lots of residents, including some frail, on paper high risk people, testing positive who never (weeks later) have any distinctive symptoms. They just don't get ill. She says the scientists are looking into it.