Axios, Apr 26, 2020
Why it matters: The findings suggest that asymptomatic patients could be contributing to the spread of the virus at a far higher level than suspected, especially in prisons, which have proven to be a breeding ground for COVID-19 in the U.S.
- This is especially noteworthy because health officials have prioritized testing and surveillance for people that show symptoms. 4,693 total tests were conducted.
- "It adds to the understanding that we have a severe undercount of cases in the U.S.," Leana Wen, adjunct associate professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University, told Reuters.
The big picture: Two prisons - Marion Correctional Institute in Ohio and Chicago's Cook County jail - are among the largest known sources of coronavirus infections in the U.S.
- At Marion, close to 95% of the 2,028 inmates who tested positive for the virus were asymptomatic, according to Reuters.
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