morekaos
Well-known member
irvinehomeowner said:WHO backpedaling:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/09/asymptomatic-coronavirus-spread-who/
The World Health Organization moved Tuesday to clarify its position on whether people without symptoms are widely spreading the new coronavirus, saying much remains unknown about asymptomatic transmission.
A comment by a WHO official on Monday ? calling such asymptomatic transmissions ?very rare? ? touched off a furious scientific debate over the unresolved question and attracted widespread criticism of the organization.
Less than 24 hours later, WHO convened a special news conference to walk back its comments, stressing that much remains unknown. But the comment from Monday had already spread widely and been seized upon by conservatives and others to bolster arguments that people do not need to wear masks or maintain social distancing precautions.
The episode sparked criticism of WHO?s public health messaging and highlighted just how fraught and easily politicized such work remains months into the pandemic.
AD
Calling the controversy ?a misunderstanding,? Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO?s emerging disease and zoonosis unit, said that during the news conference Monday, she was trying to respond to a journalist?s question when she said asymptomatic transmission was ?very rare.?
?I wasn?t stating a policy of WHO or anything like that,? she said. ?We do know that some people who are asymptomatic, or some people who do not have symptoms, can transmit the virus on.?
It was not the ?intent of WHO to say there is a new or different policy,? added Mike Ryan, head of emergency programs for WHO. ?There is still too much unknown about this virus and still too much unknown about its transmission dynamics.?
Cancelled my visit to the Bachanal Buffet.
Only confirming that they have lost any credibility with the public.