If someone in your household has COVID-19, there is only a 1 in 10 chance that you will catch it too

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If someone in your household has COVID-19, there’s only a 1 in 10 chance you’ll catch it, research shows

  • Researchers in Boston studied more than 7,000 homes with a Covid case
  • I found that of all the people who lived with them, only 10.1% became infected
  • Research also found the risk of catching it at home from someone you live with is rising for people with pre-existing health conditions

By Joe Pinkstone for Mailonline

Published: Updated:

Only one in ten people who catch Covid passes it on to someone they live with, a survey found.

US researchers analyzed data from more than 7,000 homes in Boston and found that more than 25,000 people lived there between March 4 and May 17, 2020.

During this period, 7,262 people caught Covid, but they only passed it on to another 1,809 people they lived with, a transmission speed of 10.1 percent.

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One in ten people who catch Covid passes it on to someone they live with, a survey found. American researchers studied data from more than 7,000 houses in Boston

One in ten people who catch Covid passes it on to someone they live with, a survey found. American researchers studied data from more than 7,000 houses in Boston

The paper also found that the chances of passing the virus on to someone you live with were lower for larger hosueholds.

For example, someone in a house with three to five people – one of whom was infected – was 20 percent less at risk than a two-person house.

However, the data showed that people living with Covid products were more likely to contract the virus from an infected family member.

People living with Covid products were more likely to contract the virus from their infected family member. The risk of contracting the virus increased by 31 percent if someone had asthma

People living with Covid products were more likely to contract the virus from their infected family member. The risk of contracting the virus increased by 31 percent if someone had asthma

The risk of contracting the virus increased by 31 percent if someone had asthma, 67 percent for cancer patients, and 35 percent if a family member was obese.

However, the chances of infection are more than doubled for people with liver disease.

“Independent factors significantly associated with higher transmission risk included age over 18 years and multiple co-morbid conditions,” the Massachusetts General Hospital researchers write in their study, published in JAMA Open Network.

The findings support other research that has found a similarly low rate of secondary attacks of the virus in households.

A review of 54 studies also published in JAMA Network Open in December 2020 found household transmission speed to be 16.6 percent.

A new study of Canadian public health officials published as a pre-print on medRxiv found that for all of Ontario between July 1 and November 30, 2020, the rate was only 19.5 percent.

Loss of smell and taste can persist for up to FIVE MONTHS after infection with Covid-19

Recovered Covid patients who lost their sense of smell and taste after becoming infected with the coronavirus may not see their senses return until after five months.

Anosmia, the loss or change of smell and taste, is formally recognized as a symptom of coronavirus infection.

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that half of coronavirus patients develop symptoms, with 16 and 17 percent experiencing some form of loss of smell and taste, respectively.

Researchers from the University of Quebec studied 813 health workers who contracted Covid-19.

More than a third (38 percent) of those who lost their senses had not fully regained their taste after five months.

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