WASHINGTON — A new study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that common symptom screening methods could miss many cases of COVID-19.
The study suggests temperature and symptom checks like the ones used at schools and doctor’s offices are not enough for catching infections and preventing outbreaks.
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Researchers studied more than 1,800 Marine recruits.
U.S. Marine Corps recruits quarantined at home for 2 weeks; after this period, 0.9% were found to be infected with severe acute #SARSCoV2. During a second, supervised 2-week quarantine on a college campus, 1.9% had become newly infected, and most were asymptomatic. #COVID19
— NEJM (@NEJM) November 11, 2020
They were told to isolate for two weeks at home, then in a supervised military quarantine at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina for two more weeks.
The recruits had daily fever and symptom checks, and followed other restrictions like wearing masks.
16 of them tested positive for coronavirus on arrival for the military quarantine, and only one of those had any symptoms.
Another 35 recruits tested positive during the two-week quarantine. Only four of them had symptoms.
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In March of 2020, a sailor on the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt was identified as having #SARSCoV2 infection. Over the following weeks, 1271 crew members positive, the majority were asymptomatic at time of lab diagnosis. 23 crew members were hospitalized, and 1 died. #COVID19
— NEJM (@NEJM) November 11, 2020
Symptom screening, like checking the recruits' temperatures, failed to detect any of the infections.
Genetic testing revealed six separate clusters of COVID-19 cases among the recruits.
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