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Super-Spreaders & Invisible Cases Make Coronavirus ‘Uncontainable’
People who don’t even know they have COVID-19 are spreading it around the globe
Looming outbreaks of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the United States may raise fears about its lethality. But the ultimate death toll depends largely on how efficiently the virus spreads, carried sometimes by so-called super-spreaders who don’t know they have it and infect dozens if not hundreds of people at a time in crowded settings like hospitals or public events.
These are among the reasons why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Feb. 26 encouraged individuals, schools and businesses to prepare for a likely pandemic, including almost inevitable outbreaks in this country, and to have plans in place for canceling events, potentially closing schools, self-quarantining, and otherwise hunkering down to reduce face-to-face contact.
“We really want to prepare the American public for the possibility that their lives will be disrupted because of this pandemic,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
While some government officials in the U.S. and elsewhere expressed confidence that the virus can be contained, some experts are more blunt in their…
