Officials at the World Health Organization on Tuesday walked back an earlier claim by one of their colleagues that transmission of the virus by people without symptoms is “very rare.”
The officials called it a “misunderstanding,” but it’s not the first time the W.H.O.’s assessment has seemed to lag behind scientific opinion.
Even as agency leads the worldwide response to the pandemic, several scientists warned on Tuesday, it is failing to take stock of rapidly evolving research findings and to communicate clearly about them.
Another example: The agency delayed endorsing masks for the general public until Friday, claiming there was too little evidence that they prevented transmission of the virus. Virtually all scientists and governments have been recommending masks for months.
The W.H.O. has also said repeatedly that small airborne droplets, or aerosols, are not a significant factor in the pandemic’s spread, although a growing body of evidence suggests that they may be.
These scientific disagreements have wide policy implications. Many countries, including the United States, adopted lockdown strategies because they recognized that isolating only people who were sick might not be enough to contain the epidemic.“On the one hand, I do want to cut the W.H.O. some slack, because it is hard to do this in an evolving pandemic,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. “At the same time, we do rely on the W.H.O. to give us the best scientific data and evidence.”
New York Times
More about: WHO
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