WHO airborne reversal- NYT piece w/ more color. Some experts have criticized WHO for being slow to acknowledge possibility of airborne spread while emphasizing hand washing as primary preventive strategy. Many scientists are not happy 🧵 (HT @apoorva_nyc)
nytimes.com/2020/07/09/hea…
nytimes.com/2020/07/09/hea…
2) “Even in the new brief, it’s clear that members of the committee interpreted the evidence differently, said Dr. @trishgreenhalgh, a professor at Oxford.
“The push-pull of that committee is palpable. As everyone knows, if you ask a committee to design a horse, you get a camel.”
“The push-pull of that committee is palpable. As everyone knows, if you ask a committee to design a horse, you get a camel.”
3) “Airborne transmission is the most likely explanation for several clusters of infection, including a choir in Washington State and a restaurant in China, according to some scientists. But WHO staff members have yet to accept the importance of these case studies...”
4) “and instead have “dreamed up an alternative story” in which an infected person spat on his hands, wiped it on something and “magically” infected numerous other people, Dr. Greenhalgh said.”
5) “The W.H.O. easily accepts that droplet and fomite transmission occur, but seems to want more definitive proof of spread by aerosols, some experts said.”
6) “The agency has noted that the virus has not been cultured from air samples, for example, but the same was true of influenza for many years until two groups of scientists figured out how to do it, noted @Don_Milton, an aerosol expert at the University of Maryland.”
7) “W.H.O. staff members are reluctant to make statements when they do not have irrefutable proof of certain phenomena, and are slow to update their hypotheses. “They are still challenged by the absence of evidence, and the difficulty of proving a negative,” @BillHanage said.
8) “The W.H.O. is being overly cautious and shortsighted unnecessarily,” Dr. Julian W. Tang, honorary professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom”
9) This is a wonderful piece of writing about the WHO that goes beyond the headlines. This is why I enjoy reading NYT. Great job @apoorva_nyc. Please read the full piece. nytimes.com/2020/07/09/hea…
