Squadron7 said:
Quote:
Probably not more contagious. The difference between this and the flu is nobody is immune to this.
I may not understand how precise the terminology is for you guys in the bio field...but shouldn't every totally asymptomatic carrier be considered immune?
I would say an asymptomatic carrier will be immune once they recover. But they got it in the first place, so they weren't immune initially.
My initial point was nobody was immune back before the virus came to the US, so it can spread through the whole population. Once people get it and recover, they likely will be immune for some period of time (we don't know how long because we haven't had enough time to see).
We have talked about the monkey study before, but just to recap. They infected some monkeys with the virus. They got sick, then got better, but the virus lingered for about 28 days. Once they clear the virus, they have recovered and were immune. Then they injected them with more virus, and tested them for virus. No virus, repeatedly retested and no virus over 100 negative tests on 4 monkeys and no positive tests. The virus couldn't infect them again.
So, a carrier isn't immune in the sense that the body hasn't been able to eliminate the virus. They are still infected and spreading virus. An immune person can't be infected by the virus anymore.
Immunity is what stops the spread. If a sick person (or carrier) only comes into contact with immune people, the virus doesn't spread. But if a sick person comes into contact with a susceptible person, but that person becomes a carrier, the virus is still spreading.