Coronavirus: More than half of those infected with Omicron are not aware of their infection, finds study

In what may be the right answer to the gap between COVID surveillance and COVID testing, a research study recently found that more than half, which is 56%, of those infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus--which is currently the driving COVID cases worldwide--are not aware of being infected.

Read: Experiencing COVID-19 symptoms but testing negative? Know what it means

The study was published in the JAMA Network Open journal on August 17.

The study is based on 210 adults, 118 of whom were unaware of any recent Omicron variant infection. The objective of the study was to examine awareness of infectious status among individuals during the recent Omicron variant surge in a diverse and populous urban region of Los Angeles County.

The cohort comprised 136 women and the median age was 51 years.

Individuals who were registered as adult employees or patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, an academic medical center in Southern California, were enrolled in the longitudinal serological study of COVID-19 risks and outcomes, the study says.

A total of 6385 participants were enrolled in the study of which 2479 provided plasma samples for serological assays. "Of this subset, 264 participants met the criterion for seroconversion during the Omicron variant surge period (from December 15, 2021, through May 4, 2022)," the study says.

All participants were invited to complete monthly health update surveys and were also told to contribute to monthly blood draws for serological assays.

A total of 52 participants who had not completed at least 1 health update survey within 5 weeks before or any time after collection of the second time point blood draw were excluded from the study. 2 participants who received pre-exposure monoclonal antibody treatment were also excluded from the study bringing the total number of participants to 210.

The study found that 44% of the participants were aware of the Omicron variant infection, while 56% were not aware of it.

It also found that among those who were unaware, 12 knew of the symptoms which they attributed to common cold or any non-COVID infection.

Of participants who were aware of such an infection, 73% (67 of 92) had an interval positive PCR result that was recorded in the EHR, self-reported, or both, the study found.

Majority of the participants were vaccinated.

"Before seroconversion, 94% of participants (197 of 210) in this sample had received any COVID-19 vaccine, and 93% of previously vaccinated individuals (183 of 197) received a vaccination series that included at least 1 mRNA vaccine," the study says which draws our attention to the immune evasion nature of the Omicron variant and also to the fact that though Omicron infection is leading to mild symptoms in many individuals it still has the potential to spread the disease.

"Lack of awareness of Omicron variant infection, either owing to the relative absence of symptoms or lack of timely testing, likely had a role in rapid transmission within the communities in Los Angeles County, the researchers have said.

This draws attention towards creating awareness for more testing. Regularly testing is the only way one can make sure of the infection and take necessary precautions then. With mild symptoms, it becomes difficult to ascertain the infection.

This also emphasizes the need to self isolate the moment one sees infection.

Even for symptoms like cold, fever, cough, sneeze and sore throat one should self isolate for at least a week.

The WHO has been repeatedly urging people to not let the guards down against coronavirus. The pandemic is far from being over and this is the reason why we need to keep following the anti COVID protocols like wearing masks, keeping physical distance of at least 6 metres and using hand sanitizer to avoid coming into contact with any infected person or surface.