8 ms·

WHO official: Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus 'rare'

21 points by schintan 6y ago

SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
They are so discredited now, now one listens to them.
- runawaybottle 6y ago
  You’d think a Pandemic would be their time to shine, but they really didn’t meet the moment.
  - Applethief 6y ago
    Yes, exactly.
- malloryerik 6y ago
  Don't think that's fair at all. It rather sounds like partisan political positioning. Indeed I doubt that leaders in any country that made a strong and effective response to the virus would try to discredit the WHO. I'm in South Korea and know that the WHO has been absolutely crucial to the successful and ongoing response to the novel coronavirus here. Ask and I will supply a slide deck of evidence. As merely one example South Korea had a working test in two weeks because of WHO data and indeed Chinese data shared through the WHO. Without the WHO it's likely we in South Korea would have to have had a lockdown. The WHO weren't perfect, they were human. They have limits and they can't really criticize member states. And how about the US response (your moniker implies you're from the US)? To be quite honest, I find the WHO response flawed but essential. The USA's medical/epidemiological response was/is almost, I mean I want to say... criminally negligent. Beyond flawed. The financial response is another story. But the US didn't even try to make tests until it was way too late, indeed avoided and inhibited testing (remember "I like the numbers where they are"?), still hasn't instituted a national tracing program or a coordination of municipal tracing programs (which are pathetically weak in general), had already disabled its own pandemic response team if I recall, bickered and argued amongst itself while its own citizens were dying, lied and denied, had top leaders (indeed the top leader) claiming on television initially that the virus didn't exist and was a hoax, then that it was all China's fault for doing the same things that the US did (lying and denying), had a large amount of the population refusing to wear face masks because a medical issue had been irreparably politicized, and then when the entire world is in the pangs of this plague actually defunded the WHO, blaming the doctor for the disease. Among South Koreans I have heard again and again, "Is the US really an advanced nation? How can they be so incompetent and callous?" And South Korea is usually among the world's most pro-US countries. So, maybe recall the Christian parable about criticizing the splinter in your brother's eye and never noticing the plank in your own? If the WHO is discredited, then the US... I know this sounds ranty, but please, please, enough is enough. Does this matter to Hacker News people? Well, it's gotten to the point that yes, it matters a lot. Oh by the way part of the US coronavirus response has been to attack skilled immigration, immigration bans that the likes of Stephen Miller hope to render permanent. That's a boon for US tech? Here's a Der Spiegel article in English about the WHO response. https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/europe-made-mistakes-too-interview-with-former-who-head-gro-harlem-brundtland-a-312827ff-3db0-4dbd-9d9e-fa32cbf19119 https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/europe-made-mista...
  - 0xy 6y ago
    WHO claimed publicly that China was transparent and their data was delivered fast and accurately, meanwhile the firehose of leaks from the WHO and intelligence sources proves all that was a shameless lie. The WHO is an utterly discredited and ethically bankrupt organisation. It exists as a tool for China to manipulate into making it look like there isn't a huge cover up, nothing more. According to many intelligence sources, China has repeatedly and systematically lied about their numbers. How many thousands died as a result of this deception, and from WHO's active participation in the cover up?
- pengaru 6y ago
  Well now that they've been severely defunded by the USA everything coming out of them is especially suspect as propaganda resulting from that leverage. The American president wants scapegoats for his failings, and despite completely ignoring the WHO recommendations at the start of the pandemic, he's turned the WHO into one.
  - SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
    Every recommendation coming out of WHO was bad so far. Especially to not close borders with China.
    - ta17711771 6y ago
      Yet ten years ago, people would look at you like three heads if you said the WHO was a globalist entourage...
    - pengaru 6y ago
      Every? B.S. On Jan. 30 the WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. That announcement is a trigger for the agency’s member governments to follow its recommendations. These include establishing a comprehensive programme of testing, quarantining people suspected to be infected, and tracing their contacts. The US completely ignored it, while Germany, Signapore, South Korea, didn't. Nobody is claiming the WHO is perfect, but come on, this is such political hogwash.
      - SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
        Really how about this: https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/who-chief-urges-countries-not-close-borders-foreigners-china https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/...
      - _-david-_ 6y ago
        The US cannot do a lot of things. The individual states in the US can do things. Trump closed the borders at the end of January which is basically all he could do.
pmiller2 6y ago
The title is very misleading. A WHO official did, indeed, state that asymptomatic transmission was "rare," but, the article goes on to say "She noted that the answer is not definitive," and then goes on to quote the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute and an infectious disease expert from Baylor University expressing doubt.
- rst 6y ago
  Also uses a very strict definition of "asymptomatic" which apparently excludes the likely more common case of "presymptomatic" carriers -- who will develop symptoms but haven't yet.
0xy 6y ago
Presumably the same WHO who lied about travel bans, masks, covered up for China, put Taiwan in danger and repeatedly lied about the extent of the outbreak -- all while calling China "transparent and open" publicly.
- ta17711771 6y ago
  Does anyone have any authoritative sources regarding the battle between Italian doctor who says they have less potent coronavirus now, and the WHO saying they're wrong?
zed88 6y ago
As someone who worked for a global UN agency, I can personally attest to the influence of China in the organisation. I remember one instance where the Chinese govt. kicked a major fuss over including 'Taiwan' in the country selector dropdown for our web properties. The order came from really high up in the top and we had to remove Taiwan lol.
yellowapple 6y ago
Did the WHO ever change its stance on wearing facemasks (specifically: "only wear a mask if you're symptomatic or in the same household as someone who is", rather than the arguably more responsible "wear a mask, period" guidance of e.g. the CDC)? I feel like this is an attempt to double-down on that "guidance". I would hope that the WHO cares more about saving lives than saving face. Either way, this statement is meaningless when unaccompanied by data.

21 points by schintan 6y ago

SomeoneFromCA 6y ago

They are so discredited now, now one listens to them.

runawaybottle 6y ago
You’d think a Pandemic would be their time to shine, but they really didn’t meet the moment.
- Applethief 6y ago
  Yes, exactly.
malloryerik 6y ago
Don't think that's fair at all. It rather sounds like partisan political positioning. Indeed I doubt that leaders in any country that made a strong and effective response to the virus would try to discredit the WHO. I'm in South Korea and know that the WHO has been absolutely crucial to the successful and ongoing response to the novel coronavirus here. Ask and I will supply a slide deck of evidence. As merely one example South Korea had a working test in two weeks because of WHO data and indeed Chinese data shared through the WHO. Without the WHO it's likely we in South Korea would have to have had a lockdown. The WHO weren't perfect, they were human. They have limits and they can't really criticize member states. And how about the US response (your moniker implies you're from the US)? To be quite honest, I find the WHO response flawed but essential. The USA's medical/epidemiological response was/is almost, I mean I want to say... criminally negligent. Beyond flawed. The financial response is another story. But the US didn't even try to make tests until it was way too late, indeed avoided and inhibited testing (remember "I like the numbers where they are"?), still hasn't instituted a national tracing program or a coordination of municipal tracing programs (which are pathetically weak in general), had already disabled its own pandemic response team if I recall, bickered and argued amongst itself while its own citizens were dying, lied and denied, had top leaders (indeed the top leader) claiming on television initially that the virus didn't exist and was a hoax, then that it was all China's fault for doing the same things that the US did (lying and denying), had a large amount of the population refusing to wear face masks because a medical issue had been irreparably politicized, and then when the entire world is in the pangs of this plague actually defunded the WHO, blaming the doctor for the disease. Among South Koreans I have heard again and again, "Is the US really an advanced nation? How can they be so incompetent and callous?" And South Korea is usually among the world's most pro-US countries. So, maybe recall the Christian parable about criticizing the splinter in your brother's eye and never noticing the plank in your own? If the WHO is discredited, then the US... I know this sounds ranty, but please, please, enough is enough. Does this matter to Hacker News people? Well, it's gotten to the point that yes, it matters a lot. Oh by the way part of the US coronavirus response has been to attack skilled immigration, immigration bans that the likes of Stephen Miller hope to render permanent. That's a boon for US tech? Here's a Der Spiegel article in English about the WHO response. https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/europe-made-mistakes-too-interview-with-former-who-head-gro-harlem-brundtland-a-312827ff-3db0-4dbd-9d9e-fa32cbf19119 https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/europe-made-mista...
- 0xy 6y ago
  WHO claimed publicly that China was transparent and their data was delivered fast and accurately, meanwhile the firehose of leaks from the WHO and intelligence sources proves all that was a shameless lie. The WHO is an utterly discredited and ethically bankrupt organisation. It exists as a tool for China to manipulate into making it look like there isn't a huge cover up, nothing more. According to many intelligence sources, China has repeatedly and systematically lied about their numbers. How many thousands died as a result of this deception, and from WHO's active participation in the cover up?
pengaru 6y ago
Well now that they've been severely defunded by the USA everything coming out of them is especially suspect as propaganda resulting from that leverage. The American president wants scapegoats for his failings, and despite completely ignoring the WHO recommendations at the start of the pandemic, he's turned the WHO into one.
- SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
  Every recommendation coming out of WHO was bad so far. Especially to not close borders with China.
  - ta17711771 6y ago
    Yet ten years ago, people would look at you like three heads if you said the WHO was a globalist entourage...
  - pengaru 6y ago
    Every? B.S. On Jan. 30 the WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. That announcement is a trigger for the agency’s member governments to follow its recommendations. These include establishing a comprehensive programme of testing, quarantining people suspected to be infected, and tracing their contacts. The US completely ignored it, while Germany, Signapore, South Korea, didn't. Nobody is claiming the WHO is perfect, but come on, this is such political hogwash.
    - SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
      Really how about this: https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/who-chief-urges-countries-not-close-borders-foreigners-china https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/...
    - _-david-_ 6y ago
      The US cannot do a lot of things. The individual states in the US can do things. Trump closed the borders at the end of January which is basically all he could do.

pmiller2 6y ago

The title is very misleading. A WHO official did, indeed, state that asymptomatic transmission was "rare," but, the article goes on to say "She noted that the answer is not definitive," and then goes on to quote the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute and an infectious disease expert from Baylor University expressing doubt.

rst 6y ago
Also uses a very strict definition of "asymptomatic" which apparently excludes the likely more common case of "presymptomatic" carriers -- who will develop symptoms but haven't yet.

0xy 6y ago

Presumably the same WHO who lied about travel bans, masks, covered up for China, put Taiwan in danger and repeatedly lied about the extent of the outbreak -- all while calling China "transparent and open" publicly.

ta17711771 6y ago
Does anyone have any authoritative sources regarding the battle between Italian doctor who says they have less potent coronavirus now, and the WHO saying they're wrong?

zed88 6y ago

As someone who worked for a global UN agency, I can personally attest to the influence of China in the organisation. I remember one instance where the Chinese govt. kicked a major fuss over including 'Taiwan' in the country selector dropdown for our web properties. The order came from really high up in the top and we had to remove Taiwan lol.

yellowapple 6y ago

Did the WHO ever change its stance on wearing facemasks (specifically: "only wear a mask if you're symptomatic or in the same household as someone who is", rather than the arguably more responsible "wear a mask, period" guidance of e.g. the CDC)? I feel like this is an attempt to double-down on that "guidance". I would hope that the WHO cares more about saving lives than saving face. Either way, this statement is meaningless when unaccompanied by data.