By the way, I found the article about 'cases' that I mentioned (I had to scroll through null's posts, which by the way are hilarious as well as informative...). The whole article is worth your time, but for those with busy lives:
Previously, in the world of infectious diseases, it has been accepted that a case represents someone with symptoms, usually severe symptoms, usually severe enough to be admitted to hospital. Here, from Wikipedia . yes, I know, but on this sort of stuff they are a good resource.
In epidemiology, a case fatality rate (CFR) sometimes called case fatality risk or disease lethality is the proportion of deaths from a certain disease compared to the total number of symptomatic people diagnosed with the disease. 1
Note the word symptomatic i.e. someone with symptoms.
However, now we stick a swab up someones nose, who feels completely well, or very mildly ill. We find that they have some COVID particles lodged up there, and we call them a case of COVID. Sigh, thud!
A symptomless, or even mildly symptomatic positive swab is not a case. Never, in recorded history, has this been true. However, now we have an almost unquestioned acceptance that a positive swab represents a case of COVID. This is then parroted on all the news channels as if it were gospel.
More on what I'm about to say later, but using a database from the OECD and some modeling from the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank (and my own statistical gymnastics), I estimate that our 'fatality' count of 123,544 from Apr 1-Jun 30, 2020 may be inflated by 78,213 and our 2nd Quarter GDP decline of 9.6% vs the 1st Quarter GDP (which was revised down to 9.1%) may be 3 percentage points/300 basis points stronger vs the trends in other countries. Again, more to come.
I'm *blushing*
So, in other words, if you had the virus asymptomatically, you would quarantine yourself as a carrier, rather than a patient.
Also, at least one of these types of tests is apparently sensitive enough to detect pieces of virus, rendering a positive reading when the person has already beaten it.