Thanks.
Originally Posted by
marting
This is a very good point.
I've looked for studies that explore variations in how people are characterized as symptomatic or not. This really isn't that hard a study to do and might yield better info on Covid-19 effects.
Who doesn't wake up and perhaps cough? Symptoms are quite nebulous and frankly, pretty common. I sneeze about half the time after I eat. And sometimes I'll cough a bit non-productively. But it's just something I've always done as long as I remember.
The NYT article gives at least one concrete example of how an incomplete picture can create a misleading conclusion.
If a test is positive (and not a false positive) and - later - there are symptoms, you need to associate the two/three records (same patient). Simple, right? But what if the “later” symptoms are “too late” (patient already recovered, screen didn’t probe symptom history carefully enough)?
In the NYT article, the carrier initially thought nothing of the symptoms, just like her usual jet-lag and job stress. For her, they did develop into far more easily recognized covid-19, but what if they hadn’t?
Etc.