WHO Changes Tune About Asymptomatic Coronavirus Spread; Walks Back Previous Statement That It's 'Very Rare'
The World Health Organization is slowly but surely proving itself to be one of the least trustworthy institutions on the planet to get any sort of information from concerning the coronavirus, as they are continually changing their reports and walking back comments due to political pressures they receive from countries that contribute to their funding.
A report was released by WHO this week that stated the spread of coronavirus through asymptomatic carriers was actually very rare. Now, however, they are changing their tune and trying to walk back that comment, stating there is “too much about the virus that remains unknown.”
Here’s more from the Washington Examiner:
“I was responding to a question at the press conference. I wasn’t stating a policy of WHO or anything like that. I was trying to articulate what we know, and in that, I used the phrase ‘very rare.’ And I think that’s a misunderstanding, to state that asymptomatic transmission is very rare,” WHO epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove said Tuesday.
Kerkhove said Monday that “it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” a statement that caused surprise and drew criticism because it would undercut the case for social distancing. The previous understanding of viral transmission had been that people not exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus are still contagious and should socially distance.
On Tuesday, Kerkhove said that about 40 percent of current viral transmissions could come from individuals who are asymptomatic, but too little is understood about how the virus functions to know that for sure.
“It’s a constant revision and a constant evolution and debate,” the epidemiologist stated. “And I mean that in a constructive way of saying what do we know, what are the key questions, what don’t we know, and what are we doing to address those unknown? It’s not enough to say we don’t know.”
Kerhove then said that because they don’t know if asymptomatic carriers are a primary form of transmission for the virus, it’s critical to have widespread contact tracing and testing.
A lot of folks would disagree with that assessment, given that a number of personal liberties would have to be violated in order to make it happen, and we all know how reluctant the government is to give back freedom once they take it away from citizens.
This “walking back” sounds a whole lot like trying to control a political situation, doesn’t it?
