A WHO official did, indeed, state that asymptomatic transmission was "rare," but, the article goes on to say "She noted that the answer is not definitive," and then goes on to quote the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute and an infectious disease expert from Baylor University expressing doubt.
The American president wants scapegoats for his failings, and despite completely ignoring the WHO recommendations at the start of the pandemic, he's turned the WHO into one.
The WHO weren't perfect, they were human. They have limits and they can't really criticize member states. And how about the US response (your moniker implies you're from the US)? To be quite honest, I find the WHO response flawed but essential. The USA's medical/epidemiological response was/is almost, I mean I want to say... criminally negligent. Beyond flawed. The financial response is another story. But the US didn't even try to make tests until it was way too late, indeed avoided and inhibited testing (remember "I like the numbers where they are"?), still hasn't instituted a national tracing program or a coordination of municipal tracing programs (which are pathetically weak in general), had already disabled its own pandemic response team if I recall, bickered and argued amongst itself while its own citizens were dying, lied and denied, had top leaders (indeed the top leader) claiming on television initially that the virus didn't exist and was a hoax, then that it was all China's fault for doing the same things that the US did (lying and denying), had a large amount of the population refusing to wear face masks because a medical issue had been irreparably politicized, and then when the entire world is in the pangs of this plague actually defunded the WHO, blaming the doctor for the disease. Among South Koreans I have heard again and again, "Is the US really an advanced nation? How can they be so incompetent and callous?" And South Korea is usually among the world's most pro-US countries. So, maybe recall the Christian parable about criticizing the splinter in your brother's eye and never noticing the plank in your own? If the WHO is discredited, then the US...
I know this sounds ranty, but please, please, enough is enough. Does this matter to Hacker News people? Well, it's gotten to the point that yes, it matters a lot.
Oh by the way part of the US coronavirus response has been to attack skilled immigration, immigration bans that the likes of Stephen Miller hope to render permanent. That's a boon for US tech?
Here's a Der Spiegel article in English about the WHO response. https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/europe-made-mista...
I feel like this is an attempt to double-down on that "guidance". I would hope that the WHO cares more about saving lives than saving face.
Either way, this statement is meaningless when unaccompanied by data.
