↓ Skip to main content

SARS-CoV-2 Transmission From People Without COVID-19 Symptoms

Overview of attention for article published in JAMA Network Open, January 2021
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • One of the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#2 of 9,757)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Citations

dimensions_citation
817 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
1039 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
SARS-CoV-2 Transmission From People Without COVID-19 Symptoms
Published in
JAMA Network Open, January 2021
DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.35057
Pubmed ID
Authors

Michael A. Johansson, Talia M. Quandelacy, Sarah Kada, Pragati Venkata Prasad, Molly Steele, John T. Brooks, Rachel B. Slayton, Matthew Biggerstaff, Jay C. Butler

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is readily transmitted person to person. Optimal control of COVID-19 depends on directing resources and health messaging to mitigation efforts that are most likely to prevent transmission, but the relative importance of such measures has been disputed. To assess the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 transmissions in the community that likely occur from persons without symptoms. This decision analytical model assessed the relative amount of transmission from presymptomatic, never symptomatic, and symptomatic individuals across a range of scenarios in which the proportion of transmission from people who never develop symptoms (ie, remain asymptomatic) and the infectious period were varied according to published best estimates. For all estimates, data from a meta-analysis was used to set the incubation period at a median of 5 days. The infectious period duration was maintained at 10 days, and peak infectiousness was varied between 3 and 7 days (-2 and +2 days relative to the median incubation period). The overall proportion of SARS-CoV-2 was varied between 0% and 70% to assess a wide range of possible proportions. Level of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from presymptomatic, never symptomatic, and symptomatic individuals. The baseline assumptions for the model were that peak infectiousness occurred at the median of symptom onset and that 30% of individuals with infection never develop symptoms and are 75% as infectious as those who do develop symptoms. Combined, these baseline assumptions imply that persons with infection who never develop symptoms may account for approximately 24% of all transmission. In this base case, 59% of all transmission came from asymptomatic transmission, comprising 35% from presymptomatic individuals and 24% from individuals who never develop symptoms. Under a broad range of values for each of these assumptions, at least 50% of new SARS-CoV-2 infections was estimated to have originated from exposure to individuals with infection but without symptoms. In this decision analytical model of multiple scenarios of proportions of asymptomatic individuals with COVID-19 and infectious periods, transmission from asymptomatic individuals was estimated to account for more than half of all transmissions. In addition to identification and isolation of persons with symptomatic COVID-19, effective control of spread will require reducing the risk of transmission from people with infection who do not have symptoms. These findings suggest that measures such as wearing masks, hand hygiene, social distancing, and strategic testing of people who are not ill will be foundational to slowing the spread of COVID-19 until safe and effective vaccines are available and widely used.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 13,321 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 1,039 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 1039 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 114 11%
Student > Master 99 10%
Researcher 92 9%
Student > Ph. D. Student 62 6%
Other 60 6%
Other 193 19%
Unknown 419 40%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 201 19%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 77 7%
Nursing and Health Professions 52 5%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 42 4%
Immunology and Microbiology 35 3%
Other 169 16%
Unknown 463 45%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 11047. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 22 March 2024.
All research outputs
#142
of 25,587,485 outputs
Outputs from JAMA Network Open
#2
of 9,757 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#10
of 525,022 outputs
Outputs of similar age from JAMA Network Open
#2
of 416 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,587,485 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 9,757 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 128.8. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 525,022 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 416 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.