By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold –
A CNN headline on May 22, 2020 read, CDC estimates that 35% of coronavirus patient don't have symptoms. The article by Arman Azad was based on new guidance for mathematical modelers and public health official from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In summary, the CDC finds that 36% of the individuals testing positive for COVID-19 were asymptomatic. Under CDC guidelines, only those showing symptoms of COVID-19 are eligible for testing. Random data of this sort is trickling in now that employees are being tested in order to return to their workplace, where the percentage is as high as 86%.
Bad news for checking the spread of coronavirus? Not so fast.
Statistics clarified
Current data suggests that only about 10% of COVID-19 are symptomatic. Of those only about 1% will require hospitalization 0.4% will die. If we add the asymptomatic cases to the denominator, this means the death rate for all COVID-19 infections is on the order of 0.04%, 4 per 100,000, nearly the same as seasonal influenza.
While the basic data suggests that these asymptomatic “carriers” can infect others, nearly all of these “others” will be asymptomatic as well.
Considering the population of the US, about 330 million, 0.04% is still a large number, 132,000 deaths to be specific. However, the more people infected, the fewer left susceptible to the disease. With such a big number of “carriers”, herd immunity will occur within weeks, as defined when a large percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, whether through vaccination or previous infection.
Once half the population has been infected and recovered, COVID-19 will not go away, but new infections will fall to a trickle unless the virus mutates significantly, which is not typical with coronaviruses. That’s why the SARS epidemic of 2003 ended before a vaccine could be developed.
Liberal spin
Meanwhile, the liberal media will take this as bad news, assuming most people never get past the headline, as did the Los Angeles Times in an article dated May 26, 2020, when experts warned of an increasing concern that people infected with COVID-19 who show no signs of illness are playing a large role in the transmission of COVID-19.
This sounds like Left Wing Misrepresentation, good news characterized as bad. “Oh my! 35% of the population is infected and infectious. How will we ever track them all?”
The short answer is “You can’t”, and it is futile to try. If we attempt to track people, privacy goes out the door. It is the same tactic being used by the Chinese Communists, yet beloved by the Left in the U.S., against those who are presently protesting in Hong Kong.
Might the Los Angeles Times article further be part of a calculated ploy by the Left to convince Americans that states whose governors are being too hasty in opening their states will be the cause (and by proxy President Trump), of a new surge of the virus in the fall, theorizing that those individuals who are infected with COVID-19, yet show no signs, will lead to a new fall surge?
None other than media darling Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNNs Jim Sciutto on May 15, in remarks made in the Rose Garden of the White House, “We often talk about the possibility of a second wave, or of an outbreak when you’re reopening. We don’t have to accept that as an inevitability,” he explained. “When people start thinking about the fall, I want people to really appreciate that it could happen, but it is not inevitable.”
Important facts about coronavirus
This article, Facts about Covid-19, was updated accordingly on May 6, 2020, where facts are provided by experts in the field for making a realistic risk assessment about Covid-19. May 6, 2020 updates are below:
- Stanford professor John Ioannidis explains in an interview with CNN that Covid19 is a “widespread and mild disease” comparable to influenza (flu) for the general population, while patients in nursing homes and hospitals should receive extra protection
- Stanford professor Scott Atlas explains in an interview with CNN that “the idea of having to stop Covid19 has created a catastrophic health care situation”. Professor Atlas says that the disease is “generally mild” and that irrational fears had been created. He adds that there is “absolutely no reason” for extensive testing in the general population, which is only necessary in hospitals and nursing homes. Professor Atlas wrote an article at the end of April entitled “The data are in – Stop the panic and end total isolation” that received over 15,000 comments.
- Epidemiologist Dr Knut Wittkowski explains in a new interview that the danger of Covid19 is comparable to an influenza and that the peak was already passed in most countries before the lockdown. The lockdown of entire societies was a “catastrophic decision” without benefits but causing enormous damage. The most important measure is the protection of nursing homes. According to Dr. Wittkowski, Bill Gates’ statements on Covid19 are “absurd” and “have nothing to do with reality”. Dr. Wittkowski considers a vaccination against Covid19 “not necessary” and the influential Covid19 model of British epidemiologist Neil Ferguson a “complete failure”. (Note: The video was removed by Youtube).
- German virologist Hendrik Streeck explains the final results of his pioneering antibody study. Professor Streeck found a Covid19 lethality of 0.36%, but explains that this is an upper limit and the lethality is probably in the range of 0.24 to 0.26% or even below. The average age of test-positive deceased was approximately 81 years. Professor Streeck argues that “waiting for a vaccine” is not a good strategy because both the feasibility and effectiveness of a vaccine are uncertain.
- Biology professor and Nobel Prize winner Michael Levitt, who has been analyzing the spread of Covid19 since February, describes the general lockdown as a "huge mistake“and calls for more targeted measures, especially to protect risk groups.
- The emeritus microbiology professor Sucharit Bhakdi explains in a new interview that politics and the media have been conducting an “intolerable fear-mongering” and an “irresponsible disinformation campaign”. According to professor Bhakdi, face masks for the general population are not needed and may in fact be harmful “germ catchers”. The current crisis was brought about by the politicians themselves and has little to do with the virus, he argues, while a vaccine against coronavirus is “unnecessary and dangerous”, as was already the case with swine flu. The WHO has “never taken responsibility for its many wrong decisions over the years”, professor Bhakdi adds. (Note: The video was temporarily deleted by YouTube).
- The Swiss chief physician for infectiology, Dr. Pietro Vernazza, explains in a new interview that the Covid19 disease is “mild for the vast majority of people” and the “counting of infected people and the call for more tests” aren’t helpful. In addition, most of the people listed in the corona statistics did not die solely from Covid-19. According to Dr. Vernazza, there is no evidence for the benefit of face masks in people who do not show symptoms themselves (archive).
