BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — The Brazos county health district gave some community updates concerning COVID-19 this afternoon. A notable topic of Tuesday's discussion, the more than 40 positive cases at a local senior living community.
The national guard was sent to the Parc at Traditions for decontamination after 45 people there tested positive for COVID-19.
Dr. Seth Sullivan from the Brazos County Health District said, “one thing that’s interesting is that the vast majority of the positive cases there are asymptomatic. No symptoms at the time of testing.”
The question then becomes whether they’ll stay asymptomatic or become presymptomatic.
“Those who have zero symptoms at all who stay without any symptoms. They are less likely to pass the virus than someone who has no symptoms at the time that we test then go on to develop symptoms,” Dr. Sullivan said.
Both asymptomatic and presymptomatic cases are still being treated with the same concern at Parc at Traditions though, isolating every resident who tests positive.
Dr. Sullivan said those residents “stay in a room their food is brought to them. The staff that is working with them, the associates, will have certain areas rooms that are designated to their work area. So what we’re trying to do in a facility is keep the mixing.”
Once the residents who did test positive do heal, there is still some monitoring that’ll need to be done.
“Folks can stay positive on a test for weeks and weeks and weeks. We don’t think that they are contagious to the level that they were when they had symptoms—not even close," Dr. Sullivan said, "but there is enough of that virus material that the test swab is picking up.”
Doctor Sullivan says that likely has to do with the amount of the COVID-19 virus replicating in them, and if there’s not that much of it, those asymptomatic people are less likely to spread it.
“But make no mistake," he said, "we know they can.”
The Brazos County health district’s next update for the public will be Monday, June 1st.