Coronavirus: Possible reasons why you caught COVID-19 without any contact history

What bothers many is how did they contract the COVID-19 infection when they were not in contact with any COVID positive person. While it is known to all that coronaviruses transmit from one person to another, it should be known that the virus is transmitted within a close distance or as the World Health Organisation (WHO) says a conversational distance.

So here are the different factors that aid in the rapid multiplication of the virus:

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Usually the COVID infected people tend to be more infectious 2-3 days before they develop the symptoms. The condition where a person gets infected with the virus first and develops the symptoms later is called being Pre-symptomatic. A pre-symptomatic individual in close vicinity is as contagious as an infected individual with symptoms and is capable of spreading the infection.

If you are within a short range of a COVID infected individual, you will get the infection easily. Coronaviruses spread through the small liquid particles from an infected individual's cough, sneeze, or breathe within a short range of distance. Once a person comes in contact with the liquid particles which are present in the air, the viruses enter the non-infected person's body through eyes, nose and/ or mouth. The chances of getting this infection increases when you are in a poorly ventilated or crowded indoor place.

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Any person who has COVID-19 but does not show the symptoms are said to be asymptomatic. These people themselves are not aware of carrying the virus within them. So if you are in contact with someone who is asymptomatically carrying the virus, then you will get the virus and the manifestation of the infection will depend on the immune response evoked by your body. Getting an infection from an asymptomatic carrier will not make you asymptomatic.

“A person with COVID-19 may be contagious 48 hours before starting to experience symptoms. In fact, people without symptoms may be more likely to spread the illness, because they are unlikely to be isolating and may not adopt behaviors designed to prevent spread,” says Harvard Health. Citing a study published in JAMA Network Open it has also said that almost one out of every four infections may be transmitted by individuals with asymptomatic infections.

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While the testing data is the tip of the iceberg in COVID-19 infection determination, less to zero testing owing to many factors are the bummocks that are unseen but are worrisome. Since most of the COVID-19 symptoms overlap with the symptoms of common cold, many people forgo testing and take common cold treatments. With this, by the time the infection subsides in the infected individual the virus has already been transmitted to many people through air and surfaces.

In case of asymptomatic carriers, only laboratory tests can confirm the presence of the viruses in them. So, if these individuals do not get tested, which is likely to happen as they do not develop symptoms, they can silently spread the virus to others.

This super spreader variant of COVID-19 under whose tight grip the entire world is today, doesn't show any severe symptoms and as with other variants of COVID, it is asymptomatic in many. Due to the aggressive nature of this virus to multiply, it is difficult to escape from it whenever you are outside. So far, India has reported close to 9,000 COVID-19 cases related to Omicron variant. As per a research study published in the JAMA Network Open, the proportion of asymptomatic transmission appears to be even higher with the Omicron variant.