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Of almost 3,300 prisoners infected with COVID-19, 96% have no symptoms

Almost 3,300 prisoners in four state U.S. prison have tested positive for the Wuhan flu, with 96% exhibiting no symptoms at all.

When the first cases of the new coronavirus surfaced in Ohio’s prisons, the director in charge felt like she was fighting a ghost. “We weren’t always able to pinpoint where all the cases were coming from,” said Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. As the virus spread, they began mass testing.

They started with the Marion Correctional Institution, which houses 2,500 prisoners in north central Ohio, many of them older with pre-existing health conditions. After testing 2,300 inmates for the coronavirus, they were shocked. Of the 2,028 who tested positive, close to 95% had no symptoms. “It was very surprising,” said Chambers-Smith, who oversees the state’s 28 correctional facilities.

As mass coronavirus testing expands in prisons, large numbers of inmates are showing no symptoms. In four state prison systems — Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia — 96% of 3,277 inmates who tested positive for the coronavirus were asymptomatic, according to interviews with officials and records reviewed by Reuters. That’s out of 4,693 tests that included results on symptoms.

Being a Reuters story, the goal is to spin this result as a terrifying disaster: “We can’t contain it! The disease is everywhere!”

In truth, this result is once again remarkably encouraging. It once again shows that the Wuhan flu is simply no threat to a very large percentage of the population, and that if enough of that population would stop social distancing and allow the infection to spread, they would end up killing it because it would soon have no place to go.

It also lends weight to the hypothesis that death rate from coronavirus is really not much different than the flu. There are almost certainly a vast number of people out there infected with the Wuhan virus who have showed no symptoms, meaning that our present estimates of the death rate are much too high.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

7 comments

  • Andrew_W

    In the wider population we’ve seen the number of cases double every two days when social distancing is not in place.
    If there are 10 times as many close contacts in a prison environment – indoors, many to a room, poor ventilation, we might expect the number of cases to increase by 20 every two days. With an average incubation period of 4 days (might be a bit more than that) if near geometric rates of increase in infected numbers is happening, as long as that continues, we’d expect the vast majority of people infected to be pre-symptomatic.

  • Foxbat

    maybe prison food is the answer

  • two good videos on YouTube by Dr. Erickson and his doctor partner concerning their views on COVID and the lock down. One video, part 1, is 52min long and part 2 is 12min long (towards the end of part 2 the mic cuts off for about 1min so make sure you watch the full 12min). if this link fails to work just go onto YouTube and search for Dr. Erickson and COVID.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfLVxx_lBLU

  • Rose

    @Knot At 7:50, Dr. Erickson extrapolates from 39% positive NY State COVID-19 antigen testing to conclude that 39% of the entire state’s population has been infected, when those tested were not from random samples but instead primarily from those either presenting symptoms or potentially exposed. This suggests either numerical ignorance or willful distortion of figures to push an agenda.

    He lost me right there. Please tell me I’m being too harsh and that the remainder of the video is worth my time.

  • matt

    @Rose. I have no idea the value of your time Rose so cannot answer that question. I posted it because it was worth my time. The video is interesting on many different levels. Not just the over arching message but sub-topics of the hardships from continue home isolation, economic impact to those now not employed, to the questions the reporters asked and how those questions were asked. I enjoy reading and listening to a wide variety of subjects which I know little about (most everything about space); and enjoy reading and listening to a wide range of topics that I know I am an expert in. Primarily doing so I can challenge my own paradigm… Best of health.

  • Rose

    Maths are my life, and I know I’m overly intolerant of innumeracy. They may well follow with useful observations, but it is hard to overcome a start that bad. Ex falso quodlibet.

  • Knot

    I’m glad your are good with numbers. Someone needs to be! Big picture stuff though does come into play: unemployment rate in Feb 2020 was 3.5%. What is it today? I do not know but willing to bet it’s substantially higher. How much food and other necessities can one purchase when income is zero. Probably not much. What is the known death rate from COVID19, here in America, for a healthy person today? Not high. What is the national debt? What is the unfunded national liabilities (I do know it’s higher than ALL nations GDP combined)? Bottom line, the big picture, the society will/has frayed and as those threads keep being pulled from the fabric of law and order and civility, then all the math in the world will do little to help us out. Need to get folks back to work/school/church/golf/sports/movies/restaurants/bars/concerts/universities/traveling etc… Statistically the vast majority of Americans will come down with the virus in one form or another until a vaccine arrives (1yr-1.5yrs) but the vast majority will survive. Those with compromised medical issues certainly need to hunker down and those of us who are ‘healthy’ should help them out as we can. We all have to make a choice on what to do. Run away / remain in shelter or run to the crisis… I do know which way I’m going. I’m going past the erroneous numbers as you pointed out, perhaps a valid point on your part, and help to get this lock down turned around… I think that might be one of the central themes of the video. But really what do I know other than I really don’t know much about anything… Again, best of health. Off to work.

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