Italian town's experiment leads to no new coronavirus cases in almost a week

A woman walks in almost empty Piazza di Spagna as Italian government continues restrictive movement measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak in Rome, on March 15, 2020. Italy imposed the closure of all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to control the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus. less A woman walks in almost empty Piazza di Spagna as Italian government continues restrictive movement measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak in Rome, on March 15, 2020. Italy imposed the closure of all ... more Photo: NurPhoto/NurPhoto Via Getty Images Photo: NurPhoto/NurPhoto Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Italian town's experiment leads to no new coronavirus cases in almost a week 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

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As the United States comes to terms with a new reality in the midst of a nationwide coronavirus outbreak, many are looking abroad to see which measures have actually helped slow the spread of COVID-19.

While Italy is currently the "worst-case scenario" for the United States, the small Italian town of Vò has not reported any new cases of COVID-19 since last Friday and the spread of the illness has been completely stopped there.

Vò, a town of 3,300 just outside Venice, was part of an experiment that involved aggressive testing and quarantine measures. Every single resident was tested for coronavirus in late February when Northern Italy was first rocked by the outbreak, and three percent of inhabitants were found to be carrying the virus.

Andrea Crisanti, an infections expert at Imperial College London, was involved with the experiment and told news outlets that half of the carriers exhibited no symptoms.

“In the UK, there are a whole lot of infections that are completely ignored,” Crisanti told the Financial Times. “We were able to contain the outbreak here because we identified and eliminated the ‘submerged’ infections and isolated them. That is what makes the difference.”

Anyone who tested positive was placed under quarantine, as were individuals that came into recent contact with the infected. The town's residents were then tested again 10 days later, and just .3 percent of the population was found to be carrying the virus. However, at least six infected individuals were asymptomatic and would not have been tested in most other countries.

This experiment obviously cannot be replicated on a larger scale — especially as the United States is currently failing to test even those displaying symptoms — but Crisanti believes that testing asymptomatic individuals may be the key to stopping the spread.

"It is clear that you cannot test all Italians — but you can test people close to those who are asymptomatic," Crisanti told Sky News. "We must use asymptomatic cases as an alarm bell to widen our action."

Crisanti also warned Sky News that, "for every patient that shows symptoms for COVID-19 there were about 10 who don't."

Mass asymptomatic testing has also helped South Korea withstand the epidemic without the major city-wide shelter-in-place orders, restaurant closures and travel restrictions being implemented elsewhere.

The number of new cases in South Korea has been steadily decreasing in recent days, in large part due to the fact that the country can test tens of thousands of people per day. As of Tuesday, the United States has tested 60,000 people total.

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Eric Ting is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting