3 ms·
> This report is from March 3rd, so maybe our understanding has evolved. A speech from the director-general. Not a report? > With influenza, people who are in
by ignoramous 7y ago
> This report is from March 3rd, so maybe our understanding has evolved.
A speech from the director-general. Not a report?
> With influenza, people who are infected but not yet sick are major drivers of transmission, which does not appear to be the case for COVID-19.
This is the same WHO that claimed "no evidence of human to human transmission" not long ago. Regardless, iirc, the R0 for SARS-CoV-2 is estimated at 2.5 to 3.5, much higher than Influenza's, which is at 1.8. It doesn't matter if SARS-CoV-2 is spread by the infected yet not sick, because the R0 is significantly higher, plus the incubation period is too damn long and there's no therapeutic treatment nor a vaccine.
When the dust settles, and more conclusive and complete research is done to learn about the virus, we will have all the answers, but given the current state of affairs, imo, it is highly unlikely that SARS-CoV-2 is any less infectious than Influenza.
- ahelwer 7y agoThe method of infection matters. Singapore and Taiwan have done amazingly well specifically because they enforce quarantine of infected individuals along with various levels of testing to identify those individuals, for example people having their temperature checked outside public buildings.
- ignoramous 7y agoFair point. Does WHO reference any studies that prove asymptomatic folks don't infect others? If you happen to know, what explains the higher R0 and higher rate of infection world-wide? > ...for example people having their temperature checked outside public buildings. That isn't bullet-proof, tbh. India saw instances of people popping paracetamols to work around temperature checks.
- ahelwer 7y agoNothing is bulletproof, all we can do is take actions to reduce probability of transmission and the actions chosen should target the greatest drivers of transmission. I am not aware of any studies but on the other hand it would be incredibly easy for cases of asymptomatic spread to actually have been infected by a symptomatic person, in a chaotic environment it's difficult to get good data.