WHO calls asymptomatic coronavirus spread rare

We just spent the past several months walking on eggshells for nothing.

The World Health Organization has just announced that asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus are not behind the feared virus's spread. Some suspected this was so, but perhaps the biggest reason so many were afraid of this virus was asymptomatic transmission. But now the WHO says the amount of asymptomatic spread is very rare if not negligible, and that governments should focus on symptomatic cases instead.

Lockdowns and other limits on personal behavior have been ostensibly predicated on asymptomatic transmission. In April, the CDC issued a report that used it to try to justify social distancing measures that have now worn thin. But now we know asymptomatic spread was nothing to worry about.

This is likely the most positive development in this crisis so far.

The WHO came to the latest conclusion by looking at reports from many countries that have conducted contact tracing and have not found asymptomatic transmission.

The entire ordeal of lockdowns and other authoritarian measures has been guided by ideas that have now been debunked. By worrying about a phenomenon now known to be rare, we destroyed not just the economy but also our social institutions.

Will this change our overlords' behavior? They're stubborn - and we know there's some who want lockdowns to continue forever - but now it's harder to see what the excuse is to keep it up. They've planned for months in advance as if the pandemic is still where it was in March. A year from now, it will still be March 2020 to them. But I have every right to expect policies to be based on the new information - not on what we believed 3 months ago.

Meanwhile, the number of new cases in the U.S. is plummeting. The George Floyd protests have not increased the number of cases - even though many participants show up unmasked. (I went to one of these protests at Inwood Park, and not everyone wore masks.)