Asymptomatic COVID - is it truly asymptomatic?

Theromanempire · 2020-10-26T20:36:18+00:00

Just wondering if those who are asymptomatic positive, do they actually feel 100% well with literally no symptoms at all? Or do they feel a little under the weather (maybe a little more tired than normal or slight headache) but only really mild symptoms that people have every now and again in normal times and generally ignore?

Bagsalot · 26/10/2020 22:10

Yes, I know at least 2 people with no symptoms who tested positive (part of an out break so everyone was tested) plus numerous with very mild non specific symptoms.

Nodney · 26/10/2020 22:13

My sister was found to have the antibodies and had had absolutely no symptoms

MyNameForToday1980 · 26/10/2020 22:14

I've had a positive antibody test, my only symptoms were chilblains. Everything else. Normal. Tired (but I think I'm always tired), but nothing to indicate I was unwell. Until I got the chilblains.

Jedstre · 26/10/2020 22:15

I have colleagues who had antibodies who never experienced any symptoms.

MyNameForToday1980 · 26/10/2020 22:18

For clarity, chilblains, in lockdown, in May with the heating set to 22'

I thought I had a resurgence of childhood Raynaud's. The doctor suggested it was a known COVID symptom.

DramaAlpaca · 26/10/2020 22:20

My niece told me that due to an outbreak in her student village, all the residents were tested. According to her, 90 per cent of them tested positive, none had any symptoms whatsoever. It's seriously scary.

Youcouldbemysilversprings · 26/10/2020 22:23

DH had a temperature of 37.6 for 13 hours overnight, absolutely nothing else. He's felt tired and headachy but we all have as a result of being confined to the house two weeks 😭me and the DC haven't had any symptoms but we haven't isolated from DH either so chances are we have it /had it too.

JaneJeffer · 26/10/2020 22:26

DS's friend had to get tested because someone in her house share tested positive with symptoms. She was positive but no symptoms at all. Their two other housemates were negative.

sonnenscheins · 26/10/2020 22:29

At Northumbria Uni they tested thousands of students. They found that 90% of positive test cases were asymptomatic! No symptoms whatsoever.

Original poster

Theromanempire · 26/10/2020 22:33

It is scary isn't it and it seems odd to have a virus with no symptoms whatsoever!

I was just wondering as DS is currently isolating due to a case in his school bubble so I have been checking with him whether he has any symptoms but it did occur to me that we could potentially never know if he had it or not!

OP posts:

girlsyearapart · 26/10/2020 22:39

It really is weird isn’t it ? Dh tested positive and we are all isolating. Every time I clear my throat or eat something and decide it might not taste quite strong enough I convince myself I have it. In reality I feel completely normal and the kids aren’t showing any sign either ..

TheGreatWave · 26/10/2020 23:39

To go all tinfoil hat like, there is something that just doesn't seem right, a virus that is considered so deadly the world has pretty much shut down, yet can seemingly cause no symptoms whatsoever in huge numbers of people. Are people experiencing unknown symptoms but not connecting the dots, is there a high rate of false positives, or are some people's immune response kicking in immediately? I don't know, but the more that is known, the more becomes unknown.

MyNameForToday1980 · 26/10/2020 23:57

@TheGreatWave I read an article about COVID being just the correct potency to cause a true pandemic.

Viruses don't want to kill their hosts, otherwise they too will die out. A truly pandemic virus will often mutate to become less deadly, so as to kill fewer people.

COVID is 'perfect' because the symptoms mild enough (for most hosts) to allow it be passed on invisibly (I mean, if it made us bleed out from our eyeballs, we'd irradicate it far faster as the symptoms would be unmissable), and will only kill under 2% of people who are infected. Probably significantly less than 2% as the infection rate is probably far higher than the diagnosis rate.

The downside is that it will kill a small proportion of people, and as it's virulent enough to infect a significant majority of people, and even a tiny percent of 'everyone' is a large number of deaths.

Mindymomo · 27/10/2020 07:12

Where my son works, one person had one symptom got tested positive. All 40+ staff were tested, privately by the company, another 3 were positive, absolutely no symptoms at all.

Kettlingur · 27/10/2020 07:19

To go all tinfoil hat like, there is something that just doesn't seem right, a virus that is considered so deadly the world has pretty much shut down, yet can seemingly cause no symptoms whatsoever in huge numbers of people

It's just a virus that is doing its job well. No reason to get tinfoil hat about it. You just have to remember that the job of a virus is to spread, not to kill.

Panicsettingin · 27/10/2020 07:20

I know 2 people who had the antibody test through work (Different places). Both positive, neither of them had any symptoms at all.

yarncakes · 27/10/2020 07:20

4 people at my work are asymptomatic. They're getting fed up and just want to go back to work.

bumbleymummy · 27/10/2020 07:24

Why is it scary that it’s asymptomatic for a large number of people? I think that’s a good thing! It also means the rate is much lower than it appears.

SniffyMiffy · 27/10/2020 07:35

@bumbleymummy

Why is it scary that it’s asymptomatic for a large number of people? I think that’s a good thing! It also means the rate is much lower than it appears.

Because it means they're probably going about their business all the while unknowingly passing it to others. Co-workers, family members, friends if they're not being careful with the 2m rule and staying outside - any of these could be vulnerable and find themselves in the 10-20% of people who end up in hospital with it.

DivisionBelles · 27/10/2020 07:40

A friend's son has just tested positive. No symptoms whatsoever and feels totally well. It's scary that there are literally thousands of people with the virus unknowingly spreading it around. How we'll ever get a handle on this, I don't know.

Inkpaperstars · 27/10/2020 07:42

@sonnenscheins

At Northumbria Uni they tested thousands of students. They found that 90% of positive test cases were asymptomatic! No symptoms whatsoever.

They found a similar high level of asymptomatic cases in a study in...I think it was a US prison. But the vast majority of those with no symptoms had, when scanned, sustained lung damage.

CoffeeDay · 27/10/2020 07:52

Many viruses can be totally asymptomatic for some people and cause symptoms in others. It's not "scary", it's how they evolved to be most effective in spreading. During pregnancy I was called in after they found antibodies for cytomegalovirus, another common one where some people get a flu-like illness but the majority of adults have no symptoms at all.

picklemewalnuts · 27/10/2020 08:10

It is troubling, because of the damage to wider systems that won't be immediately apparent. Asymptomatic people may well have damaged lungs and brains etc. Though it won't necessarily show for a while. An article yesterday suggested a 10 year ageing effect.

QueenStromba · 27/10/2020 08:37

@picklemewalnuts

It is troubling, because of the damage to wider systems that won't be immediately apparent. Asymptomatic people may well have damaged lungs and brains etc. Though it won't necessarily show for a while. An article yesterday suggested a 10 year ageing effect.

I hope that's not right but it's something I've thought about over the past few months. The virus knocking a decade off your life on average fits well with the profile of deaths we've seen.