What is happening with the WHO?

[still_one]

In a potentially disastrous blunder, the World Health Organization made an announcement on Monday about COVID-19 that experts are saying was a gigantic mistake.

The announcement addressed this question: Can people infected with COVID-19 who don’t display any symptoms still transmit the infection to others? For months now, public health officials have said yes, and this fact has driven many of the extreme measures countries across the world have taken in response. Because the virus that causes COVID-19, called SARS-CoV-2, can transmit even when a person doesn’t have symptoms, much of the world’s population has sought to avoid unnecessary contact with others for fear that anyone could be carrying the deadly pathogen.

But in a CNBC article published Monday reported WHO officials suggesting at a recent briefing in Geneva that transmission from people without symptoms is “very rare.” This report blew up on social media, as it gave many who fear the disease new hope and many who have been critical of the extreme measures taken to stop the spread more ammunition. It seemed to suggest to some — erroneously, it’s now clear — that social distancing is not nearly as important as has been assumed.

Pretty quickly, however, clear problems with the report began to emerge. A CNBC tweet about the story initially conveyed a much stronger message than even was WHO officials explicitly said, that asymptomatic people don’t spread the virus. This tweet was later corrected to say that WHO now claims asymptomatic spread is “very rare.”

Even this revised summation of the report is misleading, however. The CNBC article included this vital caveat:

[Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit] acknowledged that some studies have indicated asymptomatic or presymptomatic spread in nursing homes and in household settings.

More research and data are needed to “truly answer” the question of whether the coronavirus can spread widely through asymptomatic carriers, Van Kerkhove added.





https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/whos-new-announcement-about-covid-19-was-a-huge-mistake/

[2naSalit]

1. Infiltration

of political hacks? Or just plain hacked? Something's fishy and I'm glad to see people speaking up about the misinfo.

[still_one]

3. We have been getting mixed messages from day one, and people are going to get hurt because of it

Last edited Tue Jun 9, 2020, 01:36 AM - Edit history (1)

What happened in Wuhan and else where, including the US sure indicates people without symptoms sure as hell do transmit it

[2naSalit]

8. Yeah, we've seen enough of that already so

trying to rewrite the script at this point is pretty obvious.

[PJMcK]

2. Suddenly, I thought the band was getting back together for a tour

Then I realized it was late and I've had enough brandy.

My apologies.

[still_one]

4. It would have been better if it was about the WHO

[c-rational]

5. My first thought also.

[Dr. Strange]

9. Well, hopefully, next time you...

Won't Get Fooled Again.

[Hoyt]

6. I'm confused, did WHO withdraw their statement about "rare?" Or

Or are other experts saying asymptotic transmission is not rare?

[herding cats]

7. As a guess, I'm suspecting this was taken out of context.

The possibility of truly asymptotic people (someone who never exhibits symptoms) and someone who does come down with symptoms later on are being conflated here. Research may now show (per recent studies I was told) a person who never has symptoms might not have enough viral load to infect anyone except those closet them, maybe? Whereas a person asymptotic who later bears symptoms of the virus does more easily spread it as their viral load amps up. If someone is infected and if they're symptomatic later, this has a larger part to play on the quantity of virus being shed at the time of exposure to the next person.

Edited to add for clarity: It's about virus quantity being shed and who is more or less worthy of wasting time cross contact checking during a pandemic.

[OhioBlue]

10. I think your guess is right after reading the CNN article.

There is an important distinction between truly asymptomatic people and pre-symptomatic or even those who are mildly symptomatic. The truly asymptomatic people who never exhibit symptoms have been found, according to the to the article/study, to very rarely spread the virus. However, those who are not displaying symptoms, but later develop symptoms often transmit the virus the day before or the day of symptom onset. (again according to the article about the study)

I don't think doctors and scientists are adept to having their discussions taken so out of context so frequently. They are more focused on sharing information than anticipating headlines and tweets.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. CNBC will distort to promote...

... the "get out there and help make us money" agenda.

That much I know based on their history.

Lots of epidemiologists have warned about presymptomatic people being very infectious, so I barely even looked at the article earlier.