shush @daath… he is my pocket of info keeper 
*hehe!! 
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Raven employs a stadium of insurgent chimp-savants pumping out “bloviating BS”.
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THANKS @Mikser, as I’ve been on the “Who’s been watching out for YOU at the WHO” train for a while now.
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Very interesting @Mikser, AND, coming from Italy, of all places…
Doctors in Italy claim the coronavirus has weakened and become a shadow of the disease that rapidly spread around the world.
Italian medics say the infection - which has killed 370,000 worldwide - is much less lethal than it was and ‘no longer clinically exists’.
Patients are showing much smaller amounts of the virus in their system, compared to samples taken during the peak of the crisis in March and April, they said.
Infections and deaths caused by Covid-19 have been falling in Italy for weeks. It was, at one point, the centre of Europe’s escalating outbreak.
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(Washington Post, June 1, 2020):
“Experts dispute reports that coronavirus is becoming less lethal”
Alberto Zangrillo, head of San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, roiled the global public health community on Sunday when he told RAI, the national TV station, that “the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” with patients showing minute amounts of virus in nasal swabs. Zangrillo theorized in a follow-up interview with The Washington Post that something different may be occurring “in the interaction between the virus and the human airway receptors.” He added, “We cannot demonstrate that the virus has mutated, but we cannot ignore that our clinical findings have dramatically improved.” …
… The consensus among … experts interviewed Monday is that the clinical findings in Italy likely do not reflect any change in the virus itself. Zangrillo’s clinical observations are more likely a reflection of the fact that with the peak of the outbreak long past, there is less virus in circulation, and people may be less likely to be exposed to high doses of it. In addition, only severely sick people were likely to be tested early on, compared with the situation now when even those with mild symptoms are more likely to get swabbed, experts said.
The pandemic is evolving rapidly, with the rate of new cases declining in some hard-hit areas of the world, including northern Italy and New York City, while rising dramatically in Brazil, Peru and India. The virus, however, is mutating at a slow rate, experts say. Some strains of the virus have become more dominant, but there is no firm evidence yet that any of them are more contagious or deadly, according to scientists who have reviewed recent genetic studies.
Vaughn Cooper, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said the new coronavirus mutates slowly compared with influenza and other microbes, and its genetic changes appear to be “mostly inconsequential.” “I believe it’s safe to say that the differences that doctors are reporting in Italy are entirely due to changes to medical treatment and in human behavior, which limit transmission and numbers of new infections initiated by large inocula - a larger dose of virus appears to be worse - rather than changes in the virus itself,” he said.
All viruses evolve over time, and many infectious-disease experts think the novel coronavirus will eventually become less lethal to human beings, joining four other coronaviruses in causing common colds. But there is no solid evidence so far that it has changed significantly in the five months since it was first recognized among patients in Wuhan, China. “The virus hasn’t lost function on the time scale of two months,” said Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist at the University of California at Irvine. “Loss of function is something I expect over a time scale of years.”
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(Web MD, June 3, 2020):
“Claims of a Weaker COVID-19 Virus Disputed”
[Matteo Bassetti, MD, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic at the San Martino Hospital in Genoa] says proof is on the way. … Public health officials stress there’s no scientific proof that the virus is now weaker. Until that proof is found, health authorities warn that the public cannot lower its defenses against the spread of the virus. But Bassetti promises the evidence is coming. He cites studies in progress in the northern Italian cities of Milan and Brescia that will show that people are carrying lower viral loads than before - a sign of less severe disease - and that genetic mutations in the virus have made it less deadly. We are not here to say that the virus is gone,” Bassetti says. “We are here to say that it is different.” He attributes these differences to a potential combination of things, including biological changes in the virus, and the success of the lockdown, social distancing, mask use, and hand-washing.
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The prospect that SARS-COV-2 has genetically mutated in dramatically significant ways perhaps appearing unlikely, causes may possibly be preventative measures having effects of tending to reduce the viral loads associated with local exposures. (If that is so), it would appear that “Mother Nature” is not serving-up a “free lunch”.
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Petition: Open schools during the summer holidays
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All the positive news from the WHO was at the beginning of all this, and it was all lies that China told them to tell everyone…like it doesn’t transmit from human to human, and China has this under control and are doing a good job lol
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Hard to believe anything from WHO. Here’s more of their waffling.
Coronavirus patients who don’t have any symptoms aren’t driving the spread of the virus, World Health Organization officials said Monday, casting doubt on concerns by some researchers that the virus could be difficult to contain due to asymptomatic infections.
Masks off, people!!!
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The Oxford University team have been confident about their work on a vaccine for coronavirus , with millions of doses already being manufactured by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca in the expectation that it will work.
While I don’t wear a mask when I’m out, and we generally don’t wear masks in Denmark, I would argue that it is only logical that wearing masks would reduce the number of infections - I know the virus itself is so small that only P100 or something would be good, but a lot of what people exhale are bigger droplets (that the virus clings to)… Also WRT asymptomatic spread - you can spread the virus when you don’t show symptoms yet.
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But, but… WHO says otherwise!!! 
Don’t they recommend masks now? Like the CDC?
I look at it this way…
I sew masks for my brother so he can make sure his patients are covered…
Personally, I won’t wear one. I don’t like anything on my face, I get claustrophobic, and…
If I am going to die… it’s not my time… 
Perhaps we really should be availing ourselves of “world-class expert advice” (?):
Source: https://images.ctfassets.net/cnu0m8re1exe/7uNKebqAOf49k6lfBzxDgk/92ddddc048444c60cfeebd03a3e0b6df/shutterstock_1721106556.jpg
Note that the supremely enlightened country of Brazil is now outpacing Sweden:
Source: OurWorldInData.org
Brazil, a clear leader in wise public health policy, leaps past Sweden in new cases:
Source: https://i.insider.com/5ecedefa1918242fe665315b?width=1400&format=jpeg&auto=webp
Come on Sweden, let’s see you “step up your game” to once again lead the world !
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Exactly why I wouldn’t quote WHO here, or anywhere else as a credible source. Waste of time.
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You should see some of the masks groups on fb… they are all about WHO 
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The World Health Organization (as of June 5, 2020) is telling people exactly what they might well like to hear - that asymptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 appears to be relatively unlikely:
“Comprehensive studies on transmission from asymptomatic individuals are difficult to conduct, but the available evidence from contact tracing reported by Member States suggests that asymptomatically-infected individuals are much less likely to transmit the virus than those who develop symptoms.”
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Transmission of COVID-19
Knowledge about transmission of the COVID-19 virus is
accumulating every day. COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory
disease and the spectrum of infection with this virus can range
from people with very mild, non-respiratory symptoms to
severe acute respiratory illness, sepsis with organ dysfunction
and death. Some people infected have reported no symptoms at all.
According to the current evidence, COVID-19 virus is
primarily transmitted between people via respiratory droplets
and contact routes. Droplet transmission occurs when a
person is in close contact (within 1 metre) with an infected
person and exposure to potentially infective respiratory
droplets occurs, for example, through coughing, sneezing or
very close personal contact resulting in the inoculation of
entry portals such as the mouth, nose or conjunctivae
(eyes).(5-10) Transmission may also occur through fomites in
the immediate environment around the infected person.(11,
12) Therefore, transmission of the COVID-19 virus can occur
directly by contact with infected people, or indirectly by
contact with surfaces in the immediate environment or with
objects used on or by the infected person (e.g., stethoscope or
thermometer).
In specific circumstances and settings in which procedures
that generate aerosols are performed, airborne transmission of
the COVID-19 virus may be possible. The scientific
community has been discussing whether the COVID-19
virus, might also spread through aerosols in the absence of
aerosol generating procedures (AGPs). This is an area of
active research. So far, air sampling in clinical settings where
AGPs were not performed, found virus RNA in some studies
(13-15) but not in others. (11, 12, 16) However, the presence
of viral RNA is not the same as replication- and infection-
competent (viable) virus that could be transmissible and
capable of sufficient inoculum to initiate invasive infection.
Furthermore, a small number of experimental studies
conducted in aerobiology laboratories have found virus RNA
(17) and viable virus (18) , but these were experimentally
induced AGPs where aerosols were generated using high-
powered jet nebulizers and do not reflect normal human
cough conditions. High quality research including
randomized trials in multiple settings are required to address
many of the acknowledged research gaps related to AGPs and
airborne transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
Current evidence suggests that most transmission of COVID-
19 is occurring from symptomatic people to others in close
contact, when not wearing appropriate PPE. Among
symptomatic patients, viral RNA can be detected in samples
weeks after the onset of illness, but viable virus was not found
after day 8 post onset of symptoms (19, 20) for mild patients,
though this may be longer for severely ill patients. Prolonged
RNA shedding, however, does not necessarily mean continued
infectiousness. Transmissibility of the virus depends on the
amount of viable virus being shed by a person, whether or not
they are coughing and expelling more droplets, the type of
contact they have with others, and what IPC measures are
in place. Studies that investigate transmission should be
interpreted bearing in mind the context in which they occurred.
There is also the possibility of transmission from people who
are infected and shedding virus but have not yet developed
symptoms; this is called pre-symptomatic transmission. The
incubation period for COVID-19, which is the time between
exposure to the virus and symptom onset, is on average 5-6
days, but can be as long as 14 days.(21, 22) Additionally, data
suggest that some people can test positive for COVID-19, via
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing 1-3 days before they
develop symptoms.(23) Pre-symptomatic transmission is
defined as the transmission of the COVID-19 virus from
someone infected and shedding virus but who has not yet
developed symptoms. People who develop symptoms appear
to have higher viral loads on or just prior to the day of
symptom onset, relative to later on in their infection.(24)
Some people infected with the COVID-19 virus do not ever
develop any symptoms, although they can shed virus which
may then be transmitted to others. One recent systematic
review found that the proportion of asymptomatic cases
ranged from 6% to 41%, with a pooled estimate of 16%
(12%–20%),(25) although most studies included in this
review have important limitations of poor reporting of
symptoms, or did not properly define which symptoms they
were investigating. Viable virus has been isolated from
specimens of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic
individuals, suggesting, therefore, that people who do not
have symptoms may be able transmit the virus to others.(26)
Comprehensive studies on transmission from asymptomatic
individuals are difficult to conduct, but the available evidence
from contact tracing reported by Member States suggests that
asymptomatically-infected individuals are much less likely to
transmit the virus than those who develop symptoms.
Among the available published studies, some have described
occurrences of transmission from people who did not have
symptoms.(21,25-32) For example, among 63 asymptomatically
infected individuals studied in China, there was evidence
that 9 (14%) infected another person.(31)
Furthermore, among two studies which carefully investigated
secondary transmission from cases to contacts, one found no
secondary transmission among 91 contacts of 9 asymptomatic
cases,(33) while the other reported that 6.4% of cases were
attributable to pre-symptomatic transmission.(32) The
available data, to date, on onward infection from cases
without symptoms comes from a limited number of studies
with small samples that are subject to possible recall bias and
for which fomite transmission cannot be ruled out.
(June 5, 2020): “WHO Advice on the use of masks in the context of COVID-19”
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For those among the flock who prefer that their public health advice be “Made in America”, perhaps the CDC’s most recently published info is more attractive (?):
(April 1, 2020):
“Presymptomatic Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 - Singapore Jan 23-Mar 16, 2020”
Unfortunately, the CDC’s publishing seems not nearly as appealing as the WHO’s.
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In a previous look at the WHO’s surveillance report (posted up-thread), there were around 70,000 newly documented cases each day. Now, there are around 130,000 newly documented cases each day. And they are largely “Made in the Americas” !
Source: “WHO Situation Report #140, June 8, 2020”
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https://jvi.asm.org/content/early/2020/04/30/JVI.00711-20
Not much life left in the COVID. Not sure how much longer the fear will last.
Dr. Ramin Oskoui, a cardiologist and CEO of Foxhall Cardiology, reacted on Tuesday to a study that found a new coronavirus mutation reportedly mirrors a change that occurred as the SARS virus began to weaken, saying, “it’s well-known that as viruses progress, they typically mutate to weaker forms.”
“The phenomenon is known as ‘Muller’s Ratchet,’” Oskoui told “The Ingraham Angle” Tuesday.
He added that this is “virology 101.”
“This is how they go away. They typically mutate, as well as herd immunity, to attenuate weaker strains that no longer make people so ill,” Oskoui continued.
Oskoui made the comments reacting to a study conducted by Arizona researchers, which was published in the online version of the Journal of Virology.
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Oops.
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Funny, I was just about to post that. I guess they were told there’s no place for positive news at this time! Waffle waffle.
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Thank you for the more detailed specifics. I made the mistake of assuming everyone would know I didn’t mean temporary loss of smell/taste from a stuffy nose.
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