Say What? WHO Says Asymptomatic Spread of Coronavirus, Primary Reason for Lockdowns, Doesn’t Really Happen

RALEIGH – A consequential misunderstanding? Shifting science on a new virus? A big lie?

The World Health Organization came out yesterday to reveal that their studies of SAR-CoV2, the virus that can cause COVID-19, show that spreading of the infection by asymptomatic carries is extremely rare. As in, the primary justification public health officials pointed to sell blanket lockdown policies doesn’t actually exist.

From CNBC:

“Coronavirus patients without symptoms aren’t driving the spread of the virus, World Health Organization officials said Monday, casting doubt on concerns by some researchers that the disease could be difficult to contain due to asymptomatic infections. […]

Preliminary evidence from the earliest outbreaks indicated that the virus could spread from person-to-person contact, even if the carrier didn’t have symptoms. But WHO officials now say that while asymptomatic spread can occur, it is not the main way it’s being transmitted. 

“From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said at a news briefing from the United Nations agency’s Geneva headquarters. “It’s very rare.” […]”

Now, it’s understandable if you currently have an unstoppable mental montage of Governor Roy Cooper, or Health Secretary Mandy Cohen, repeatedly justifying economically ruinous, rights-violating lockdowns and social distancing mandates specifically because of the worry that anonymous asymptomatic carriers will spread the contagion in crowds.

Indeed, the concern that the invisible infected were spreading the virus was a critical component making up the fear factor in mid to late March. It was the hyperbolic fear factor that made public officials willing to subvert rights and livelihoods, and convinced a lot of the public to simply obey and go along with it all.

What’s worse, the WHO data indicates that in the “very rare” occasions where asymptomatic spread does occur, it is only in nursing homes or close household settings.

If that is true, it means Stay-at-Home orders were exactly the WRONG thing to do, in terms of mitigating the spread of the virus. Early signs of this could be seen in Italy, as infections continued to explode with full lockdowns forcing inter-generational families to hunker down together.

So what does the WHO suggest is the right way to handle the virus?

“[…] Government responses should focus on detecting and isolating infected people with symptoms, and tracking anyone who might have come into contact with them, Van Kerkhove said. […]”

Isolate the sick. Wow; if only we could have imagined such a reasonable policy that would have enabled us to mitigate the spread of the disease, prevent the overwhelming of healthcare systems, while avoiding a worldwide freak out that led us to crashing our own economy and losing jobs faster than anything we’ve ever seen.

Oh, that’s right, WE DID. Isolating the sick and protecting the vulnerable has been presented as a reasonable alternative to mandated, statewide lockdowns the ENTIRE TIME. Citizens have literally protested in the streets to be allowed to go to church, run their business, and live their lives while protecting the vulnerable and isolating the sick.

Cooper and the other authoritarians in state capitals and Washington, D.C. scolded these people for their reckless behavior, endangering lives. Our governor, just yesterday, scolded and threatened with state law enforcement, racetrack owners in Alamance County because they won’t observe crowd size limitations. Crowds of asymptomatic people that, according to the WHO, are not in any real risk of spreading the infection.

The narrative supporting authoritarian lockdown has been exposed as misguided at best. Unfortunately, it is We the People that have to deal with the fallout of the worst and most consequential policy mistake in our lifetimes.

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