Pandemic advice from the WHO

[mtbc]

I had previously had a vaguely good impression of the World Health Organization. However, during this pandemic they have unpleasantly surprised me. In trying to understand how to protect myself from SARS-CoV-2 I have been keeping somewhat abreast of the preliminary research and it did not take long for multiple credible items of circumstantial evidence to emerge that widespread mask-wearing helps and that infection appears to follow indoor airflow. I would certainly understand some we're not sure caveats but it disappointed me to see how long it took the WHO to start to agree about masks and now they seem to be dragging their feet on airborne transmission. As somebody who dropped biology before finishing high school and whose professional focus is neither medical nor epidemiological, am I the one very plausibly mistaken about all this, should I have more faith? Otherwise, what is going on with the WHO? Are they hamstrung by what would be politically convenient for China and the US? Are they scared to make a best guess in a crisis situation? Should we be listening to some other organization instead?

Comments

[shadowkat]

I've been having a similar reaction to WHO. They've given some horrible advice that various people are following. "Oh, you don't need a mask, says WHO" - was because we'd run out of masks and they were trying to keep people from panic buying them apparently. As opposed to manufacturing more masks. WHO also failed to warn the US about the spread of the virus in December and January. It waited. And it failed to go in and investigate China and seal China off from the rest of the world as early as November. As a result the virus got to Italy, and invaded the US.

My other problem with WHO and the CDC by extension is they are ignoring other symptoms and pushing that this is just a respiratory virus, when patients have cited inflammation of blood vessels, neurological disorders, digestive issues and pulmonary issues associated with the virus. There are COVID support groups of people recovering from it - whose doctors refuse to treat their illness as COVID because it doesn't fit the symptoms of WHO and the CDC.

I discovered all of this in late May and June, and became furious. Part of the problem though is both are underfunded and not provided with enough leeway. China's ego got in the way. As did the US, Russia, and various others.

I've been listening to Johns Hopkins who started tracking the virus in January. Also New York State Department of Health and Human Services which figured out that a rare inflammatory condition popping up in children from 1-22 was linked to the virus. Also NY State Department of Health got experts from Britain and Germany, I think. They are ignoring WHO and the CDC for the most part - they haven't forgiven them for refusing to let NY test in February for the virus when it wanted too. NY also figured out there were two strains when WHO was insisting there was only one.