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Mike 03

(16,616 posts)
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 05:12 PM Apr 2020

WHO Deletes Misleading Tweet That Spread Paranoia About COVID-19 Reinfection

Source: Reason
ROBBY SOAVE | 4.26.2020 4:17 PM

"The thread caused some concern & we would like to clarify."

This weekend the World Health Organization (WHO) had to delete a misleading tweet about the coronavirus. Unfortunately, several media outlets had already cited it, spreading unwarranted fear about the likelihood of secondary COVID-19 infections.

On Friday, the WHO published a scientific brief on "immunity passports"—the idea that governments should grant special documents to citizens who test positive for COVID-19 antibodies, allowing them to move about freely. The WHO warned that this is premature, since "no study has evaluated whether the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 confers immunity to subsequent infection by this virus in humans."

The WHO is correct that scientists have not determined the degree of immunity enjoyed by COVID-19 survivors. But the tweet version of the brief was missing important context, and it said only this: "There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from #COVID19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection."

That's technically true: There's no evidence of immunity. But that's because COVID-19 is new and the matter hasn't been conclusively studied yet. Scientists have good reason to expect COVID-19 survivors to have some immunity to the virus, though they're unsure how strong it will be or how long it will last.


Read the rest of article here: https://reason.com/2020/04/26/world-health-organization-tweet-coronavirus-covid-19-antibodies/

I'm so relieved they have clarified this. I think the "takeaway" from that brief unnerved a lot of people.



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hlthe2b

(101,702 posts)
2. It was far more blunt than it should have been-- admitting the true level of "unknown" as of yet,
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 05:39 PM
Apr 2020

but nothing about it was untrue. We EXPECT some level, some duration of immunity based on all we know of other viral infections, but with the exception of a very small and short term study of infection in macaques, the immune response is yet to be truly characterized. For this reason, quick vaccine production expectations are more hopeful than assured.

The most frightening scenario is if antibodies produced naturally do not neutralize the virus or only do so partially or for a very short term. We already have examples of this in our lives--HIV being one such example. Common cold viruses/influenza viruses being others.

coti

(4,612 posts)
3. People need to stop using the phrase "no evidence" like this.
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 05:40 PM
Apr 2020

There's plenty of evidence, including inductive evidence, that there would be at least some immunity after recovering from CV. The question is how CONCLUSIVE is the evidence?

Fiendish Thingy

(15,361 posts)
7. Just one example how lack of critical thinking can create hysteria
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 06:36 PM
Apr 2020

There were multiple threads on DU proclaiming impending doom based on the exact misinterpretation of inconclusive data that caused WHO to delete the tweet.

Take a breath, folks, before jumping to conclusions.

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