Fact Check: Did Experts Say Asymptomatic Patients Can't Spread COVID-19?

A social media post claimed that presymptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients could not spread the disease in any setting, but that is not the case.

Twitter user Jenny Beth Martin told in a tweet about a report from the University of Florida where researchers allegedly found no asymptomatic or presymptomatic spread of COVID-19, reported Politifact.

According to Snopes, the claim was spurred on mostly by people who grew tired of the mitigation policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

So they amplified social media messages saying there was no risk for asymptomatic individuals from spreading the virus.

The message was further spread after conservative commentator and Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren posted the same claim on Facebok and Twitter.

From there, news sites started headlining the same sentiments. But neither of the prior posts provided a link to the said study from the University of Florida.

Snopes said the posts must have been referring to a study published on the Journal of the American Medical Association Network in December 2020.

It was authored by four researchers from UF and two others from the University of Washington.

COVID-19 Spread in Research Limited to Household Transmission Only

Fact checkers pointed out that there were some clarifications that needed to be done when examining the claim.

First of all, the researchers from the said study compiled 54 already-existing studies, including more than 78,000 people to draw their conclusions instead of conducting a physical experiment.

However, one of the most misrepresented part of the research was the lack of analysis on COVID-19 spread through a public setting.

It looked into how severe and through what means a member of the same household could pass along the virus to the people they live with.

The research, as obtained by Snopes reported transmission in China "largely occurred within families."

It found that the likelihood of spreading the virus from an infected person to an uninfected person within the same household as higher if a person displayed symptoms.

There was an 18% chance that symptomatic individuals would transmit the virus, compared to the 0.7% recorded for asymptomatic patients.

Claims on Asymptomatic Spread A 'False Characterizaton'

As pointed out by news outlets, the report failed so say that the spread between an asymptomatic patient and a healthy person in the research they cited was limited in nature.

In conclusion, it was a false characterization of what was said in the study.

Even though there were findings that can be attributed to lower spread among asymptomatic transmission, the number isn't zero.

Saying in a post that "researchers have found no asymptomatic or presymptomatic spread of Covid" does not really apply to any other setting apart from the home.

Reports added that with dozens of existing studies, it was made clear that even presymptomatic patients show higher transmission rates.

Evidence also suggested that there is about a 20% chance that people will experience no symptoms, giving way to spread the virus but at a much lower rate than those with symptoms.

Public officials urged people to wear masks and continue social distancing until experts can learn more about the spread of the virus.