Dumb question: The asymptomatic carriers for Coronavirus.

[intrepidity]

10. It is a mystery

For a virus to be transmissible means, by definition, that it has successfully infected a person's cells, hijacked it's resources and machinery, and replicated itself millions or billions of copies.

Why the person remains asymptomatic could depend on any number of variables, such as: which cells specifically became infected; the type and degree of immune response mounted by the body; and I can't really think of any others besides those two.

Just based on functional analysis, whatever is happening in their body, it's not compromising enough to the host (infected person) for them to notice symptoms, but yet the virus has successfully hijacked some of their resources, enough to replicate at sufficient levels, that the person sheds infectious virus.

Brilliant engineering on the part of the virus.