Jacksonville doctor explains concern with asymptomatic spread of COVID-19

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida has experienced a significant increase in new COVID-19 cases. Sunday’s report showed more than 2,000 new cases, reported by the Department of Health. However, the percent positive rate has remained low at about 5%.

Duval County started experiencing an increase in new cases over the past week. Tuesday’s daily FDH report showed 80 new confirmed cases, which is about double of its daily average.

Action News Jax Medical Expert Dr. Michelle Aquino with Baptist said more concern comes when Duval’s percent positive rate increases, meaning more people are testing positive for the virus.

“So our numbers are not very high but they’re consistent. So we haven’t had a total drop off of the virus,” Dr. Aquino said. “We haven’t gone down to 0%. We’ve been consistently positive. So the numbers now are like 3.5% the last few days because the numbers are going up. That’s concerning because we’ve had a very slow build-up. Could this be our big first wave? Possibly. Don’t know yet, we have to see what our numbers show.”

It’s been about three months since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Duval County. Although its percent positive rate is low, Dr. Aquino said the county is still in its first wave of the pandemic.

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Full interview: Jacksonville doctor explains concern with asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 Action News Jax Medical Expert Dr. Michelle Aquino with Baptist said more concern comes when Duval?s percent positive rate increases, meaning more people are testing positive for the virus.

“We never had the falling off of our curve. It’s been consistent at about 2 and 3%. In the last few days it’s gone up to about 3.5% positive of all the cases that we’re testing,” Dr. Aqunio said.

She believes more asymptomatic carriers are being diagnosed. With her experience, she said hospitals are finding more asymptomatic carriers. Since elective surgeries can resume, those patients are tested for the virus. Some tested positive without showing symptoms.

Doctors found there are two types of carriers of COVID-19: symptomatic and asymptomatic. Symptomatic carriers will almost immediately show symptoms of the virus, like dry cough, fever or fatigue. Asymptomatic carriers may have the virus for several days without showing symptoms, which causes more concern for doctors because they said these carriers may be infecting other people without knowing it.

“That’s why we ask you to wear a mask because a lot of us we don’t know that we have it and we’re spreading it,” Dr. Aquino said. “I’ve seen over and over some are not wearing face masks and what they say is, ‘I’m young, I’m healthy my immune system will kick in and I’ll fight this virus. I have nothing to worry about.’ That might be true but again who are you exposing yourself to?”

Some businesses have proposed performing temperature checks at the door to monitor the virus in their establishment. However, Dr. Aquino said it may not work on asymptomatic carriers because they may not show symptoms.

Dr. Aquino said the best form of prevention at this time is wearing a fac mask, covering the nose and mouth. She also recommended social distancing, avoid mass gatherings, and good handing washing throughout the day.

A person can find if they are symptomatic or asymptomatic by a nasal swab or blood test.

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