Thread by @Laurie_Garrett

This Guangdong Provincial Cntr for Disease Control & Prevention study is scary. Thanks @larrybrilliant for tweeting.
My take:
1.) A person came down w/#COVID19 in Guangzhou, testing + May 21, 2021;
2.) By June18 another 167 infections were id'ed, all frm the 1st index case.
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3.) Infection was caused by #DeltaVariant #SARSCoV2 so all the infected were quarantined & PCR tested daily.
4.) And "the viral load of the first positive test of Delta infections was ~1000 times higher than" than seen w/2020 Wuhan forms of the virus.
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5.) In this early, ASYMPTOMATIC stage of infection the #DeltaVariant cases had "faster viral replication rate and more infectiousness" to others.
6.) These ppl had huge nose swab viral levels: 81% of samples contained >600,000copies/mL, while only 19% of original...
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...Wuhan infections caused viral loads that high.
7.) "These data highlight that the Delta variant could be more infectious during the early stage of the infection" when people have no symptoms, no idea they are infected.
8.) And it's FAST. Normal #COVID19 reaches peak...
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...viral load in 7 to 10 days. But #DeltaVariant peaks just 3 dys post-infection.
"In this study we characterize a large transmission chain originated from the 1st local infection of the #SARSCoV2 Delta variant in mainland China. A potential higher viral replication rate..."
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...rate of the #DeltaVariant is proposed, which leads the viral loads in Delta infections to be ~1000 times higher than the [Wuhan 2020] strains on the day when the testing turns positive...more infectiousness of Delta during the early stage of infection is very likely."
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Bottom line:
The #DeltaVariant starts replicating itself immediately after infection, at a rate 1000Xs faster than "normal" #SARSCoV2 and quickly fills the nose and mouth with huge infectious doses -- all w/in <72 hours, and before individuals have any symptoms.
Wear 😷and get 💉