Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, a great deal has been said about a so-called &#8220;second&#8221; or even &#8220;third&#8221; wave that could arise. According to an official with the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 could be one big wave, not a seasonal one.
“We are in the first wave. It’s going to be one big wave. It’s going to go up and down a bit. The best thing is to flatten it and turn it into just something lapping at your feet,” WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said during a virtual briefing in Geneva, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who/who-says-covid-19-pandemic-is-one-big-wave-not-seasonal-idUSKCN24T16U">Reuters</a>.
Harris noted the high case numbers during the summer to highlight the fact that COVID-19 does not seem to slow according to the weather, urging vigilance against mass gatherings. If COVID-19 were to be a seasonal problem, it would be coinciding with traditional flu cases in the fall and winter months.
“People are still thinking about seasons. What we all need to get our heads around is this is a new virus and &#8230; this one is behaving differently,” she said. “Summer is a problem. This virus likes all weather.”
Harris urged vaccinations against the flu to avoid a dual-threat in the coming months.
“If you have an increase in a respiratory illness when you already have a very high burden of respiratory illness, that puts even more pressure on the health system,” she said.
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-us-coronavirus-cases-may-be-leveling-off-hotspot-states-seeing-slowdown-in-new-infections">reported</a> last week, U.S. coronavirus cases may be on the verge of leveling off as hotspot states see slowdown in new infections:
<blockquote>A new report in Axios indicates that the number of new coronavirus cases in the United States appears to be “leveling off,” and hotspot states like Texas, Arizona, and Florida are seeing a slowdown, though many still have not reached a “peak” in the number of infections.
“After weeks of explosive growth, the number of new infections in the U.S. is still climbing — but not quite as fast as it has been,” <a href="https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-infections-spread-florida-california-texas-94aacba0-7351-42ec-b1f1-74d6dd3ef5c6.html">Axios reported Thursday</a>, alongside a map that shows the majority of states now seeing their number of new cases holding steady.
Although the report is not necessarily good news — the United States, the outlet says, is still averaging a shocking 66,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day — the new information seems promising. Over the last month, coronavirus infections grew at a rate of 20% per week; last week, the number of new cases rose by just 7%.</blockquote>
Should COVID-19 prove to be one big wave instead of a seasonal one, the likelihood increases for schools reopening in the fall. Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cdc-director-threat-of-suicide-drugs-flu-to-youth-far-greater-than-covid">has supported</a> a general reopening of schools in the fall, arguing that America&#8217;s youth are at far greater risk from suicide, drugs, and the flu.
“It’s not risk of school openings versus public health. It’s public health versus public health,” he said. “I’m of the point of view, and I weigh that equation as an individual that has 11 grandchildren that the greater risk is actually to the nation to keep these schools closed.&#8221;
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cdc-director-threat-of-suicide-drugs-flu-to-youth-far-greater-than-covid">CDC Director: Threat Of Suicide, Drugs, Flu To Youth ‘Far Greater’ Than Covid</a>
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Mobile COVID-19 testing facility in Miami Beach

WHO Official: COVID-19 ‘One Big Wave,’ Not Seasonal

Coronavirus

COVID-19

World Health Organization

Speaking at a meeting with members of the British Parliament from both sides of the political aisle, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly asserted that the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was “bought by the Chinese government.”
“This is a political, not a science-based organization, and I talk to our experts&#8230; they will tell you that there are pieces of it that work. But when push came to shove, when it really mattered most, when there was a pandemic in China, Dr. Tedros — who was hook line and sinker bought by the Chinese government — I can&#8217;t say more, but I can tell you I&#8217;m saying this on a firm intelligence foundation, a deal was made … there was a deal-making election and when push came to shove, you’ve got dead Britons, because of the deal that was made,” Pompeo stated, according to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8546961/British-coronavirus-victims-died-head-bought-China-Pompeo-tells-MPs.html">The Daily Mail</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-pompeo-who-workd-health-organisation-tedros-china-2020-7">Business Insider</a>.
After visiting China in January, Tedros lauded the Chinese regime for its supposed transparency regarding the coronavirus, <a href="https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1220421162251051008">tweeting</a>, &#8220;I thank the Government of <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" role="link" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hashtag_click" data-focusable="true">#China</a> for its cooperation and transparency. The government has been successful in isolating and sequencing the virus very quickly, and has shared that genetic sequence with <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" role="link" href="https://twitter.com/WHO" data-focusable="true">@WHO</a> and the international community.&#8221; 
Reports later surfaced indicating that the Chinese Communist regime had not been transparent about the virus.
<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-pandemic-world-health-organization-failed/">National Review</a> noted:
<blockquote>On December 30, Chinese doctor <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30382-2/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Li Wenliang</a> warned colleagues about the outbreak of an illness resembling severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which sparked a pandemic in 2003. Public-health officials rely on the acuity of doctors like Li, whose early warnings prevent the spread of deadly diseases. But Chinese authorities didn’t reward Li; they summoned him to the Public Security Bureau in Wuhan on accusations that he had made false statements and disrupted the public order.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) followed up with numerous other arrests, and publicly warned that it would punish anyone spreading “rumors” on social media. By mid January, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-it-all-started-chinas-early-coronavirus-missteps-11583508932?mod=article_inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chinese doctors knew</a> that COVID-19 was spreading between humans, but on January 14, the <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1217043229427761152&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fworld%2Fworld-health-organization-january-tweet-china-human-transmission-coronavirus" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WHO stated</a> that there was “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus.”</blockquote>
On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced the suspension of an extradition treaty with Hong Kong, as the U.K has started to take a tougher position vis-a-vis China.
Pompeo reportedly added:
<blockquote>We talked about how we have seen Hong Kong&#8217;s freedom crushed; we have seen the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) bully its neighbors, militarize reaches of the South China Sea and begin a deadly confrontation with India. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the British government for its principled responses to these challenges; you have made a sovereign decision to ban Huawei from future 5G networks, you have joined other free nations to condemn China&#8217;s broken promises on the Sino-British treaty, you generously opened your doors to Hong Kongers who &#8230; are fleeing for freedom. And yesterday you suspended your extradition treaty and extended your arms embargo on China to Hong Kong itself. We support those sovereign choices; we think well done.</blockquote>
Just after Tedros, who The Daily Mail pointed out “has never practiced as a medical doctor,” was elected to head the WHO, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mugabes-new-role-as-un-goodwill-ambassador-is-payoff-for-china-x2l2cd3g6">The Times</a> reported, “Chinese diplomats had campaigned hard for the Ethiopian, using Beijing&#8217;s financial clout and opaque aid budget to build support for him among developing countries.”
After working as a health official in the regime of Ethiopian Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, Tedros joined the far-left TPLF, which began as a Communist party. He eventually became the National Minister for Health in 2005, then got promoted to Foreign Minister in 2012.
In 2017, Tedros ran for Director-General of the WHO. That election polled UN member states as part of a secret ballot; in prior elections, the vote had been taken by a closed-door vote of an executive committee. After his election, Tedros recommended African dictator Robert Mugabe as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador, prompting allegations that he wanted to reward China, which had fervently supported Mugabe.
The Daily Mail noted, “During the 2017 election itself, several groups within Ethiopia <a href="https://ecadforum.com/2017/04/23/dr-tedros-adhanom-is-an-individual-suspected-of-a-crime-against-humanity/">opposed </a>Dr Tedros&#8217;s appointment due to his links with the TPLF and allegations that they stifled journalists and repressed minorities.”
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Pompeo Tells British That WHO Chief Was ‘Bought’ By Chinese, Report Says

China

Mike Pompeo

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden rebuked President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization and promised to reverse course should he become president next year, when the United States’ withdrawal from the U.N.-based public health agency is expected to become official. 
“Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will rejoin the [World Health Organization] and restore our leadership on the world stage,” Biden tweeted on Tuesday. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will rejoin the <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WHO</a> and restore our leadership on the world stage. <a href="https://t.co/8uazVIgPZB">https://t.co/8uazVIgPZB</a>
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1280603719831359489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
The Trump administration formally informed the U.N. of its plans to leave the WHO in a letter on Tuesday, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/trump-united-states-withdrawal-world-health-organization-coronavirus/2020/07/07/ae0a25e4-b550-11ea-9a1d-d3db1cbe07ce_story.html">The Washington Post</a>. Trump originally announced that the United States planned to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-terminates-americas-membership-in-world-health-organization-over-china-coronavirus-scandal">terminate</a> its relationship in late May, and would redirect funding to “worldwide and deserving, urgent global public health needs.”
A &#8220;senior administration official&#8221; told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/world/coronavirus-updates.html">The New York Times</a> on Tuesday that the “notice of withdrawal, effective July 6, 2021, has been submitted to the U.N. secretary general, who is the depository for the W.H.O.” According to The Hill, withdrawing from the WHO requires a one-year advanced notice. 
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-united-states-will-withdraw-from-the-world-health-organization">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported, WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Tuesday that the pandemic is &#8220;accelerating&#8221; and that &#8220;the case for national unity and global solidarity is undeniable.&#8221;
Chairman of the Senate health committee Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has expressed disagreement with the Trump administration’s decision, citing poor timing in a statement: “I disagree with the president’s decision. Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it.”
“Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of vaccines, which citizens of the United States as well as others in the world need. And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States,” said Alexander, who concluded by asking that the Trump administration submit to Congress “specific recommendations” to reform the WHO. 
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate health committee, took a much stronger stance against Trump, accusing him in a statement of putting Americans at risk and abdicating “America’s role as a global leader.”
“Refusing to work with our partners across the world to fight this pandemic will only prolong the crisis, further undermine our international standing, and leave us less prepared for future crises. President Trump needs to realize this crisis doesn’t recognize borders and hiding from it or passing the blame won’t make it go away or make him any less responsible,” said Murray. 
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Presidential Candidate Joe Biden Speaks In Lancaster On Health Care

Biden Rebukes Trump’s Decision To Withdraw From WHO With Day One Promise

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Effective July 6, 2021, the United States will no longer be a member nation of the World Health Organization, the White House announced Tuesday, ending the U.S.&#8217;s involvement in the global group, which President Donald Trump has claimed conspired with China to hide the true extent of the coronavirus pandemic.
The United States submitted its withdrawal to the United Nations Secretary-General on Tuesday, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/506214-trump-administration-formally-withdraws-us-from-WHO-">according to The Hill</a>, and the White House informed Congress of its intent to drop participation in the WHO early Tuesday morning.
The World Health Organization, concerned that a break might be coming, was adamant Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over and warned member nations to stay the course, participating wholly in the WHO&#8217;s global efforts at pandemic containment.
The pandemic is &#8220;accelerating, and we have clearly not reached the peak of the pandemic,&#8221; Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a briefing. &#8220;More than six months in, the case for national unity and global solidarity is undeniable. We cannot afford any divisions.&#8221;
The United States, however, has been reconsidering its membership in the WHO since early February, when suspicions arose among Trump administration officials that WHO administrations may have conspired with Chinese officials to hide the origin of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and may have helped the Chinese government conceal the extent of the pandemic within that country&#8217;s borders.
Later reports also seem to indicate that the WHO deliberately recast the novel coronavirus as largely harmless, tweeting in January that there was no proof the virus could be transmitted from human to human, although it was clear from the Chinese experience that the virus was highly contagious. In February, Dr. Ghebreyesus claimed that &#8220;the spread [of coronavirus] to other countries is minimal and slow,&#8221; and that Chinese efforts to contain the virus had been successful.
In recent days, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/who-quietly-alters-coronavirus-timeline-to-indicate-it-first-learned-of-coronavirus-from-the-internet-not-the-chinese-government">Fox News reports</a>, the WHO has been furiously recasting its narrative about the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, even going so far as to alter its official timeline on the matter, claiming now that it learned of the coronavirus from the Internet and not from health officials in Wuhan, where the global pandemic began.
The White House announced in April that it was looking to pull funding from the WHO, pending an investigation into the body&#8217;s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The move triggered panic within the WHO&#8217;s ranks, particularly given that the United States supplies a significant percentage &#8212; more than $400 million &#8212; of the group&#8217;s operating budget. At one point, members of the WHO accused Taiwan of orchestrating an uprising among member nations based on racism &#8212; a claim Taiwan quickly and forcefully disputed.
In late May, the U.S. officially announced that it would cut ties with the WHO but did not set a timeline for withdrawal.
Tuesday&#8217;s announcement fulfills the Trump administration&#8217;s threat.
Democrats quickly fired back at the administration. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) tweeted that &#8220;to call Trump’s response to COVID chaotic &amp; incoherent doesn&#8217;t do it justice. This won&#8217;t protect American lives or interests — it leaves Americans sick &amp; America alone.&#8221;
Correction: An earlier version of this article said the withdrawal from WHO would take place next Monday. It will actually take place July 6, 2021.
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United States Will Withdraw From The World Health Organization

Trump Administration

The federal officials are reportedly concerned about a spike in coronavirus from the widespread protests in response to the death of George Floyd, and officials now have to deal with a stunning 70 test sites destroyed by rioters.
Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx was reportedly concerned &#8220;that the yelling by protesters could potentially negate the health benefits of wearing a mask, and that the destruction of testing sites at those protests would set back efforts to contain the virus’ spread,&#8221; The Daily Beast <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-task-force-warns-governors-of-covid-spike-tied-to-protests">reported</a> Tuesday. &#8220;Birx said that 70 such sites had been destroyed, which had already resulted in an appreciable dip in testing rates there. She advised governors to &#8216;scramble now to make sure there is testing available in urban areas.'&#8221;
Birx voiced concern that once some of the violent riots started to become more peaceful that people who were at a higher risk of serious complications from the coronavirus, like the elderly, could start to attend the events and risk exposure to the disease.
The news comes after numerous members of the D.C. National Guard &#8220;have tested positive for COVID-19 in the wake of the mass protests across the nation’s capital last week,&#8221; the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/fa5700c4d7443621b73c12b0c8ef6064">reported</a>.
A new British study published this week said that if everyone wears masks in public that it might be enough to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus and prevent lockdowns. Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-masks-study/widespread-mask-wearing-could-prevent-covid-19-second-waves-study-idUSKBN23G37V">reported</a>:
<blockquote>The research, led by scientists at the Britain’s Cambridge and Greenwich Universities, suggests lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, but that even homemade masks can dramatically reduce transmission rates if enough people wear them in public.
“Our analyses support the immediate and universal adoption of face masks by the public,” said Richard Stutt, who co-led the study at Cambridge.
He said combining widespread mask use with social distancing and some lockdown measures, could be “an acceptable way of managing the pandemic and re-opening economic activity” before the development of an effective vaccine against COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.</blockquote>
At the start of the week, the World Health Organization claimed that asymptomatic transmissions were &#8220;very rare,&#8221; only to later retract its comments less than 24 hours later, claiming that much remains unknown about the disease.
Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s emerging disease and zoonosis unit, said that it was &#8220;a misunderstanding,&#8221; even though she is the one who said, “From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual. It’s very rare.”
In walking back her statement, Van Kerkhove said, “I wasn’t stating a policy of WHO or anything like that. We do know that some people who are asymptomatic, or some people who do not have symptoms, can transmit the virus on.”
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A Digital Sign Directing Patients to a COVID-19 Drive-Thru Testing Site at Stony Brook University

70 Coronavirus Testing Sites Reportedly Destroyed During Riots

Dr. Deborah Birx

George Floyd

Law Enforcement

Race

The World Health Organization has clarified remarks from a press conference on Monday during which the head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that coronavirus transmission from asymptomatic carriers &#8212; a person who does not develop any COVID-19 symptoms — was a “very rare” phenomenon. 
“We do know that some people who are asymptomatic, or some people who do not have symptoms, can transmit the virus on,” said Kerkhove, who also explained that she was not “stating a policy of WHO or anything like that” but referencing a subset of studies “that actually try to follow asymptomatic cases.”
“What we need to better understand is how many of the people in the population don’t have symptoms, and separately, how many of those individuals go on to transmit to others,” she said, later adding that a big open question is how many people are “truly asymptomatic.”
Dr. Isaac Bogoch and Dr. Alan Detsky, professors at the University of Toronto, have previously warned in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/coronavirusfrontlines/2020/05/16/the-term-asymptomatic-is-more-complicated-than-it-seems-when-it-comes-to-coronavirus-infections/#2f79661261d9">Forbes</a> that some people who aren’t actually asymptomatic are “commonly mislabeled as asymptomatic in both the medical literature and media.”
For example, some people who are considered asymptomatic may be “presymptomatic,” a term used for people who have not yet developed symptoms, or “subclinical,” a term used for people who don’t develop detectable symptoms or who only develop symptoms too mild to be detected by the healthcare system. 
Kerkhove offers a similar caveat, noting “a number” of people who are reported as asymptomatic “may have mild disease” or they “may go onto develop symptoms.” 
“We don’t have a clear picture of this,” she said. “We’re six months into a pandemic, there’s a huge amount of research that is being done, but we don’t have that full picture yet.”
Kerkhove also said that some modeling groups have tried estimating the proportion of asymptomatic transmission — which she says offer a “big range,” as high as 40% — “but those are from models so I didn’t include that in my answer yesterday but wanted to make sure that I covered that here.”
The World Health Organization’s remarks on Monday have been a source of widespread confusion, with members of the medical community noting that the global health body&#8217;s communication on the issue has been poor. 
“Such a statement from the world health organization should be accompanied by data,” said Dr. Ashis Jah, director of the Global Health Institute at Harvard University. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/WHO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WHO</a> communication here not stellar
If folks without symptoms truly &#8220;very rarely&#8221; spread virus, would be huge.
But such a statement by <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WHO</a> should be accompanied by data.
Asymptomatic spread is Achille&#8217;s heal of this outbreak
Would love to be wrong. Need to see data
Fin
— Ashish K. Jha (@ashishkjha) <a href="https://twitter.com/ashishkjha/status/1270069138279424000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
“It’s a mess. I don’t know why they would say asymptomatic transmission is very rare when the truth is we simply don’t know how frequent it is,” Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/09/asymptomatic-coronavirus-spread-who/">The Washington Post</a>. “And it doesn’t change the facts we do know, which is that this virus is very transmissible and is very hard to combat.”
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Coronavirus covid-19

After Widespread Confusion, WHO Clarifies ‘Very Rare’ Asymptomatic Transmission Comment

UPDATE: World Health Organization official Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove walked back her widely reported comment that asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 is &#8220;very rare,&#8221; stating that experts &#8220;don’t actually have that answer yet.&#8221;
“I was responding to a question at the press conference, I wasn’t stating a policy of WHO or anything like that,&#8221; Van Kerkhove <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/08/asymptomatic-coronavirus-patients-arent-spreading-new-infections-who-says.html">said</a> in a live-streamed <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=840748076450603&amp;ref=watch_permalink">Q&amp;A</a> the day after her &#8220;very rare&#8221; comment caused a stir. &#8220;I was just trying to articulate what we know. I used the phrase ‘very rare,’ and I think that that’s misunderstanding to state that asymptomatic transmission globally is very rare. What I was referring to was a subset of studies.”
As underscored by <a href="https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/people-who-do-not-show-covid-19-symptoms-can-and-do-transmit-it-to-others-physical-distancing-and-face-masks-effectively-reduce-the-risk-of-transmission/?fbclid=IwAR0YHOJIKhJ6sl3SeKSRUYcJDWHgPmCMClRpgBXhaGLMK1wG-i0vgrDY2sY">Health Feedback</a>, WHO uses the scientific definition of &#8220;asymptomatic,&#8221; those who never develop any symptoms, and distinguishes that from &#8220;presymptomatic,&#8221; those who currently show no symptoms but will eventually develop them.
Original report below:
It seems that reports about how COVID-19 can spread even among people who are asymptomatic may have been false, at least according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the WHO, the spread of COVID-19 among asymptomatic people is &#8220;very rare.&#8221;
&#8220;Coronavirus patients without symptoms aren’t driving the spread of the virus, World Health Organization officials said Monday, casting doubt on concerns by some researchers that the disease could be difficult to contain due to asymptomatic infections,&#8221; reports <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/08/asymptomatic-coronavirus-patients-arent-spreading-new-infections-who-says.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain">CNBC</a>. &#8220;Some people, particularly young and otherwise healthy individuals, who are infected by the coronavirus never develop symptoms or only develop mild symptoms. Others might not develop symptoms until days after they were actually infected.&#8221;
Though the spread of COVID-19 through asymptomatic patients can occur, as the original evidence seemed to indicate, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said those instances are &#8220;very rare.&#8221; Going forward, governments should instead focus on isolating and tracking infected people showing symptoms, and anyone who comes in contact with them.
“From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a second individual. It’s very rare.” Dr. Van Kerkhove said at a news briefing from the United Nations agency’s Geneva headquarters.
Despite that admission, Van Kerkhove said that the medical community will not have a definitive answer on the spread of COVID-19 through asymptomatic patients until more data is uncovered.
“We have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing,” she said. “They’re following asymptomatic cases. They’re following contacts. And they’re not finding secondary transmission onward. It’s very rare.”
&#8220;What we really want to be focused on is following the symptomatic cases,” she added. “If we actually followed all of the symptomatic cases, isolated those cases, followed the contacts, and quarantined those contacts, we would drastically reduce” the outbreak.
As CNBC noted, disproving the notion that COVID-19 spreads through asymptomatic transmission could have a tremendous impact on the future of social distancing and lockdown measures. At the start of the pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6914e1.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said </a>that social distancing was necessary to prevent asymptomatic transition.
“These findings also suggest that to control the pandemic, it might not be enough for only persons with symptoms to limit their contact with others because persons without symptoms might transmit infection,” the CDC study said.
At the outset of the pandemic, reports said that COVID-19 could spread through surfaces on which it could live for up to nine days. Last month, the CDC updated that statement to indicate that transmission of the virus on surfaces is also rare.
&#8220;Recent guidance issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sheds new light on how coronavirus spreads through surfaces,&#8221; reported <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/05/21/coronavirus-news-what-cdc-saying-covid-19-surfaces/5235317002/">USA Today</a>.  &#8220;Though there is the possibility that coronavirus could be transmitted by touching a surface — and then your nose, mouth or eyes — the likelihood of that is lower than person-to-person contact, which is believed to be the primary way coronavirus is transmitted.&#8221;
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Coronavirus Photo Illustrations

WHO Official Says Asymptomatic Spread Of COVID-19 ‘Very Rare’; UPDATE: Official Walks Back Claim

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was terminating the United States&#8217; membership in the World Health Organization (WHO) over the organization&#8217;s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and because of the Chinese Communist Party&#8217;s influence over the organization.
“The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government. China&#8217;s cover-up of the Wuhan virus allowed the disease to spread all over the world, instigating a global pandemic that has cost more than 100,000 American lives and over 1 million lives worldwide.”
“Chinese officials ignored their reporting obligations to the World Health Organization and pressure of the world health organization to mislead the world when the virus was first discovered by Chinese authorities,” Trump continued. “Countless lives have been taken and profound economic hardship has been inflicted all around the globe.” They strongly recommended against me doing their early ban from China, but I did it anyway and was proven to be 100% correct.”
“China has total control over the world health organization, despite only paying $40 million per year compared to what the United States has been paying, which is approximately $450 million a year,” Trump continued. “We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engage with them directly, but they have refused to act.”
Trump explained, “Because they have failed to make the request and greatly we needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and directing those funds to worldwide and deserving, urgent global public health needs.”
Trump highlighted numerous questions that have been raised in recent months about China&#8217;s scandalous handling of the outbreak.
Trump asked, &#8220;Why is it that China shutoff infected people from Wuhan to all other parts of China? It went nowhere else. It didn&#8217;t go to Beijing. It went nowhere else. But they allowed them to freely travel throughout the world, including Europe and the United States.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Trump announces that the U.S. is QUITTING the WHO because, among many reason, &quot;they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms&quot; following the complicit role in helping China lie and conceal the seriousness of the Wuhan coronavirus <a href="https://t.co/G8SRVSf5t5">pic.twitter.com/G8SRVSf5t5</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1266443777868288003?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A couple of weeks ago, Trump sent a scathing letter to the WHO highlighting their failures in responding to the pandemic and demanding that immediate change was made.
The letter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-sends-scathing-letter-to-who-if-major-changes-are-not-immediately-made-u-s-could-permanently-cut-funding-withdraw-membership">stated</a> that the U.S. government conducted an investigation into the way that the WHO handled the outbreak and found:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The World Health Organization consistently ignored credible reports of the virus spreading in Wuhan in early December 2019 or even earlier, including reports from the Lancet medical journal. The World Health Organization failed to independently investigate credible reports that conflicted directly with the Chinese government’s official accounts, even those that came from sources with Wuhan itself.</li>
<li>By no later than December 30, 2019, the World Health Organization office in Beijing knew that there was a “major public health” concern in Wuhan. Between December 26 and December 30, China’s media highlighted evidence of a new virus emerging from Wuhan, based on patient data sent to multiple Chinese genomic companies. Additionally, during this period, Dr. Zhang Jixian, a doctor from Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, told China’s health authorities that a new coronavirus was causing a novel disease that was, at the time, afflicting approximately 180 patients.</li>
<li>By the next day, Taiwanese authorities had communicated information to the World Health Organization indicating human-to-human transmission of a new virus. Yet the World Health Organization chose not to share any of this critical information with the rest of the world, probably for political reasons.</li>
<li>The International Health Regulations require countries to report the risk of a health emergency within 24 hours. But China did not inform the World Health Organization of Wuhan’s several cases of pneumonia, of unknown origin, until December 31, 2019, even though it likely had knowledge of these cases days or weeks earlier.</li>
<li>According to Dr. Zhang Yongzhen of the Shanghai Public Health Clinic Center, he told Chinese authorities on January 5, 2020, that he had sequenced the genome of the virus. There was no publication of this information until six days later, on January 11, 2020, when Dr. Zhang self-posted it online. The next day, Chinese authorities closed his lab for “rectification.” Even as the World Health Organization acknowledged, Dr. Zhang’s postings was a great act of “transparency.” But the World Health Organization has been conspicuously silent both with respect to the closure of Dr. Zhang’s lab and his assertion that he notified Chinese authorities of his breakthrough six days earlier.</li>
<li>The World Health Organization has repeatedly made claims about the coronavirus that were either grossly inaccurate or misleading.
<ul>
<li>On January 14, the World Health Organization gratuitously reaffirmed China’s now-debunked claim that the coronavirus could not be transmitted between humans, stating: “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) indentified in Wuhan, China” This assertion as in direct conflict with censored reports from Wuhan.</li>
<li>On January 21, 2020, President Xi of China reportedly pressured you not to declare the coronavirus outbreak an emergency. You gave in to this pressure the next day and told the world that the coronavirus did not pose a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Just over one week later, on January 30, 2020, overwhelming evidence to the contrary forced you to reserve course.</li>
<li>On January 28, 2020, after meeting with President Xi in Beijing, you praised the Chinese government for its “transparency” with respect to the coronavirus, announcing that China had set a “new standard for outbreak control” and “bought the world time.” You did not mention that China had, by then, silenced or punished several doctors for speaking out about the virus and restricted Chines institutions from publishing information about it.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Even after you belatedly declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020, you failed to press China for the timely admittance of a World Health Organization team of international medical experts. As a result, this critical team did not arrive in China until two weeks later, on February 16, 2020. And even then, the team was not allowed to visit Wuhan until the final days of their visit. Remarkably, the World Health Organization was silent when China denied the two American members of the team access to Wuhan entirely.</li>
<li>You also strongly praised China’s strict domestic travel restrictions, but were inexplicably against my closing of the United States border, or the ban, with respect to people coming from China. I put the ban in place regardless of your wishes. Your political gamesmanship on this issue was deadly, as other governments, relying on your comments, delayed imposing life-saving restrictions on travel to and from China. Incredibly, on February 3, 2020, you reinforced your position, opining that because China was doing such a great job protecting the world from the virus, travel restrictions were “causing more harm than good.” Yet by then the world knew that, before locking down Wuhan, Chinese authorities had allowed more than five million people to leave the city and that many of these people were bound for international destinations all over  the world.</li>
<li>As of February 3, 2020, China was strongly pressuring countries to lift or forestall travel restrictions. This pressure campaign was bolstered by your incorrect statements on that day telling the world that the spread of the virus outside China was “minimal and slow” and that “the chances of getting this going to anywhere outside China [were] very low.”</li>
<li>On March 3, 2020, the World Health Organization cited official Chinese data to downplay the very serious risk of asymptomatic spread, telling the world that “COVID-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza” and that unlike influenza this disease was not primary driven by “people who are infected but not yet sick.” China’s evidence, the World Health Organization told the world, “showed that only one percent of reported cases do not have symptoms, and most of these cases develop symptoms within two days.” Many experts, however, citing data from Japan, South Korea, and elsewhere, vigorously questioned these assertions. It is now clear that China’s assertions, repeated to the world by the World Health Organization, were wildly inaccurate.</li>
<li>By the time you finally declared the virus a pandemic on March 11, 2020, it had killed more than 4,000 people and infected more than 100,000 people in at least 114 countries around the world.</li>
<li>On April 11, 2020, several African Ambassadors wrote to the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the discriminatory treatment of Africans related to the pandemic in Guangzhou and other cities in China. You were aware that Chinese authorities were carrying out a campaign of forced quarantines, evictions, and refusal of services against the nationals of these countries. You have not commented on China’s racially discriminatory actions. You have, however, baselessly labeled as racist Taiwan’s well-founded complaints about your mishandling of this pandemic.</li>
<li>Throughout this crisis, the World Health Organization has been curiously insistent on praising China for its alleged “transparency.” You have consistently joined  in these tributes, notwithstanding that Chin a has been anything but transparent. In early January, for example, China ordered samples of the virus to be destroyed, depriving the world of critical information. Even now, China continues to undermine the International Health Regulations by refusing to share accurate and timely data, viral samples and isolates, and by withholding vital information about the virus and its origins. And, to this day, China continues to deny international access to their scientists and relevant facilities, all while casting blame widely and recklessly and censoring its own experts.</li>
<li>The World Health Organization has failed to publicly call on China to allow for an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, despite the recent endorsements for doing so by its own Emergency Committee. The World Health Organization’s failure to do so has promoted World Health Organization member states to adopt the “COVID-19 Response” Resolution at this year’s World Health Assembly, which echoes the call by the United States and so many others for an impartial, independent, and comprehensive review of how the World Health Organization handled the crisis. The resolution also calls for an investigation into the origins of the virus, which is necessary for the world to understand how to best counter the disease.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

President Trump Speaks About Protecting Seniors With Diabetes

Trump Terminates America’s Membership In World Health Organization Over China Coronavirus Scandal

The World Health Organization has &#8220;renewed praise&#8221; for China, even as they&#8217;ve agreed to an investigative probe on their relationship with the Asian superpower &#8212; a relationship that may have allowed China to hide the true effects of the novel coronavirus and the extent to which the country was affected by COVID-19.
<a href="https://time.com/5842256/world-health-organization-china-coronavirus-outbreak/">TIME Magazine reports</a> that the WHO has returned to &#8220;day to day&#8221; conversations with China and is excited at research developments being made by Chinese scientists in pursuit of a coronavirus vaccine.
&#8220;Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief, pointed to &#8216;day-to-day&#8217; discussions with colleagues in China,&#8221; the outlet reported Tuesday. &#8220;He said the U.N. health agency and many governments are eager to understand the animal origins of the virus, &#8216;and I am very pleased to hear a very consistent message coming from China, which is one of openness to such an approach.'&#8221;
China, of course, appears to have worked alongside the WHO to hide the virus&#8217; true nature, leaving many countries, including the United States, unprepared for the severity of the coronavirus epidemic. As late as January, the WHO was still parroting China&#8217;s messages on the virus, including that there was no evidence that COVID-19 could be transmitted from person-to-person.
Signs of a dangerously close relationship between China and the WHO prompted the Trump administration to announce an investigation into both parties, with President Donald Trump adding, in late April, that the U.S. would pull funding from the WHO if officials discovered evidence of a conspiracy to hide details of the pandemic.
WHO officials do not appear to believe Trump&#8217;s threat is serious, at least according to statements made last week, after the WHO agreed to an internal investigation into its role in the origins and spread of the novel coronavirus.
A WHO official, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/24/world-health-organization-trump-simonson-276494">Politico reports</a>, said Sunday that an American departure from the international health group would be &#8220;unimaginable&#8221; as the two parties have been &#8220;connected since the very beginning.&#8221;
“The United States, since at least 1902, has been the leader in global public health, and I cannot imagine an environment where the United States would not be in WHO and contributing to WHO as it does today,” Stewart Simonson, WHO’s assistant director-general of general management, told CNN per Politico.
“WHO was founded by the United States and other member states,” Simonson added. “WHO has benefited from enormous generosity from the people of the United States and almost incalculable technical support.”
Simonson also denied that the WHO and China worked to hide evidence of coronavirus&#8217; spread and applauded his own organization for their response to the global health crisis.
The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52726017">BBC reports</a> that the WHO has now agreed to an investigation into its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it&#8217;s not clear whether the group has a timeline, or whether that investigation will come before or after other agreed-to internal probes, which have yet to begin.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

WHO Returns To Praising China As Leaders Say They Don’t Believe U.S. Will Pull Funding

The World Health Organization has stopped research into hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug touted by President Donald Trump, as a potential treatment for Covid-19.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the “temporary pause” on Monday after a study published last week found that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine increased the risk of heart problems and death for coronavirus patients, according to The <a href="https://apnews.com/7be2152625e17d236e84b258cb8896fd">Associated Press</a>.
“This concern relates to the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in Covid-19,” Tedros said. Both drugs are on the WHO’s “<a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/325771/WHO-MVP-EMP-IAU-2019.06-eng.pdf?ua=1">Model List of Essential Medicines</a>” for treating malaria and certain auto-immune diseases.
A <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31180-6/fulltext">study</a> published in the medical journal The Lancet on Friday showed the results of a multi-national analysis of the impact of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in patients diagnosed with Covid-19.
“We were unable to confirm a benefit of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, when used alone or with a macrolide, on in-hospital outcomes for COVID-19,” the study says. “Each of these drug regimens was associated with decreased in-hospital survival and an increased frequency of ventricular arrhythmias when used for treatment of COVID-19.”
The WHO’s decision comes after Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-reveals-he-is-taking-hydroxychloroquine-as-preventative-measure">announced</a> he had been on a hydroxychloroquine regiment for about two weeks on May 18. The president said many doctors and nurses are already making wide use of the drug for themselves and their patients.
“You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers before you catch it. The front-line workers — many, many are taking it,” Trump said. “I happen to be taking it. I happen to be taking it.”
Chloroquine has been in use as an anti-malarial drug since its discovery in 1934 and has been a central part in fighting malaria globally since the 1950s. The efficacy for treating coronavirus patients with chloroquine, and its more stable counterpart hydroxychloroquine, is still being debated by scientists and researchers studying it.
Trump began <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/malaria-drug-sees-promising-signs-as-future-coronavirus-treatment">touting</a> hydroxychloroquine around the same time that a small but promising study by a French researcher appeared to show that the drug helped coronavirus patients recover faster and with less severe symptoms.
Trump’s May 18 announcement elicited strong reactions from pundits and politicians. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-nancy-pelosi-knocks-trump-morbidly-obese-people-shouldnt-take-unapproved-medications">said</a> Trump should not be taking the drug because of its dangers to “morbidly obese” people.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany later <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/press-sec-kayleigh-mcenany-blasts-apoplectic-reaction-after-news-that-trump-is-taking-hydroxychloroquine">knocked</a> Pelosi and other critics of the president’s announcement for ignoring that the drug has been in wide use for decades and that many doctors are using it to treat Covid-19.
“Some of the misreporting on other networks — these apoplectic [analyses] of hydroxychloroquine — ignore the fact that tens of millions of people around the world have used this drug for other purposes,” McEnany said.
“The president has said pretty widely that this is a drug that he had looked at with optimism,” she added. “But nevertheless he said that this is a decision that must be made with a doctor, as he’s repeatedly said.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Hydroxychloroquine

WHO Pauses Research Into Hydroxychloroquine As Covid-19 Treatment

President Donald Trump sent a scathing letter to the World Health Organization late on Monday evening informing them that if there is not &#8220;major&#8221; changes made in the next 30 days that the U.S. may permanently suspend funding to the organization and may withdraw its membership.
The letter listed many of the WHO’s failings in managing the pandemic and then stated, “Perhaps worse than all these failings is that we know that the World Health Organization could have done so much better. Just a few years ago, under the direction of a different Director-General, the World Health Organization showed the world how much it has to offer.”
“It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world,” Trump said in the letter. “The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China. My administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organization. But action is needed quickly. We do not have time to waste. That is why it is my duty, as President of the United States, to inform you that, if the World Health Organization does not commit major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organization permanent and reconsider our membership in the organization. I cannot allow American taxpayer dollars to continue to finance an organization that, in its present state, is so clearly not serving America’s interests.”
The letter stated that the U.S. government conducted an investigation into the way that the WHO handled the outbreak and found:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The World Health Organization consistently ignored credible reports of the virus spreading in Wuhan in early December 2019 or even earlier, including reports from the Lancet medical journal. The World Health Organization failed to independently investigate credible reports that conflicted directly with the Chinese government’s official accounts, even those that came from sources with Wuhan itself.</li>
<li>By no later than December 30, 2019, the World Health Organization office in Beijing knew that there was a “major public health” concern in Wuhan. Between December 26 and December 30, China’s media highlighted evidence of a new virus emerging from Wuhan, based on patient data sent to multiple Chinese genomic companies. Additionally, during this period, Dr. Zhang Jixian, a doctor from Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, told China’s health authorities that a new coronavirus was causing a novel disease that was, at the time, afflicting approximately 180 patients.</li>
<li>By the next day, Taiwanese authorities had communicated information to the World Health Organization indicating human-to-human transmission of a new virus. Yet the World Health Organization chose not to share any of this critical information with the rest of the world, probably for political reasons.</li>
<li>The International Health Regulations require countries to report the risk of a health emergency within 24 hours. But China did not inform the World Health Organization of Wuhan&#8217;s several cases of pneumonia, of unknown origin, until December 31, 2019, even though it likely had knowledge of these cases days or weeks earlier.</li>
<li>According to Dr. Zhang Yongzhen of the Shanghai Public Health Clinic Center, he told Chinese authorities on January 5, 2020, that he had sequenced the genome of the virus. There was no publication of this information until six days later, on January 11, 2020, when Dr. Zhang self-posted it online. The next day, Chinese authorities closed his lab for &#8220;rectification.&#8221; Even as the World Health Organization acknowledged, Dr. Zhang&#8217;s postings was a great act of &#8220;transparency.&#8221; But the World Health Organization has been conspicuously silent both with respect to the closure of Dr. Zhang&#8217;s lab and his assertion that he notified Chinese authorities of his breakthrough six days earlier.</li>
<li>The World Health Organization has repeatedly made claims about the coronavirus that were either grossly inaccurate or misleading.
<ul>
<li>On January 14, the World Health Organization gratuitously reaffirmed China&#8217;s now-debunked claim that the coronavirus could not be transmitted between humans, stating: &#8220;Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) indentified in Wuhan, China&#8221; This assertion as in direct conflict with censored reports from Wuhan.</li>
<li>On January 21, 2020, President Xi of China reportedly pressured you not to declare the coronavirus outbreak an emergency. You gave in to this pressure the next day and told the world that the coronavirus did not pose a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Just over one week later, on January 30, 2020, overwhelming evidence to the contrary forced you to reserve course.</li>
<li>On January 28, 2020, after meeting with President Xi in Beijing, you praised the Chinese government for its &#8220;transparency&#8221; with respect to the coronavirus, announcing that China had set a &#8220;new standard for outbreak control&#8221; and &#8220;bought the world time.&#8221; You did not mention that China had, by then, silenced or punished several doctors for speaking out about the virus and restricted Chines institutions from publishing information about it.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Even after you belatedly declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020, you failed to press China for the timely admittance of a World Health Organization team of international medical experts. As a result, this critical team did not arrive in China until two weeks later, on February 16, 2020. And even then, the team was not allowed to visit Wuhan until the final days of their visit. Remarkably, the World Health Organization was silent when China denied the two American members of the team access to Wuhan entirely.</li>
<li>You also strongly praised China&#8217;s strict domestic travel restrictions, but were inexplicably against my closing of the United States border, or the ban, with respect to people coming from China. I put the ban in place regardless of your wishes. Your political gamesmanship on this issue was deadly, as other governments, relying on your comments, delayed imposing life-saving restrictions on travel to and from China. Incredibly, on February 3, 2020, you reinforced your position, opining that because China was doing such a great job protecting the world from the virus, travel restrictions were &#8220;causing more harm than good.&#8221; Yet by then the world knew that, before locking down Wuhan, Chinese authorities had allowed more than five million people to leave the city and that many of these people were bound for international destinations all over  the world.</li>
<li>As of February 3, 2020, China was strongly pressuring countries to lift or forestall travel restrictions. This pressure campaign was bolstered by your incorrect statements on that day telling the world that the spread of the virus outside China was &#8220;minimal and slow&#8221; and that &#8220;the chances of getting this going to anywhere outside China [were] very low.&#8221;</li>
<li>On March 3, 2020, the World Health Organization cited official Chinese data to downplay the very serious risk of asymptomatic spread, telling the world that &#8220;COVID-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza&#8221; and that unlike influenza this disease was not primary driven by &#8220;people who are infected but not yet sick.&#8221; China&#8217;s evidence, the World Health Organization told the world, &#8220;showed that only one percent of reported cases do not have symptoms, and most of these cases develop symptoms within two days.&#8221; Many experts, however, citing data from Japan, South Korea, and elsewhere, vigorously questioned these assertions. It is now clear that China&#8217;s assertions, repeated to the world by the World Health Organization, were wildly inaccurate.</li>
<li>By the time you finally declared the virus a pandemic on March 11, 2020, it had killed more than 4,000 people and infected more than 100,000 people in at least 114 countries around the world.</li>
<li>On April 11, 2020, several African Ambassadors wrote to the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the discriminatory treatment of Africans related to the pandemic in Guangzhou and other cities in China. You were aware that Chinese authorities were carrying out a campaign of forced quarantines, evictions, and refusal of services against the nationals of these countries. You have not commented on China&#8217;s racially discriminatory actions. You have, however, baselessly labeled as racist Taiwan&#8217;s well-founded complaints about your mishandling of this pandemic.</li>
<li>Throughout this crisis, the World Health Organization has been curiously insistent on praising China for its alleged &#8220;transparency.&#8221; You have consistently joined  in these tributes, notwithstanding that Chin a has been anything but transparent. In early January, for example, China ordered samples of the virus to be destroyed, depriving the world of critical information. Even now, China continues to undermine the International Health Regulations by refusing to share accurate and timely data, viral samples and isolates, and by withholding vital information about the virus and its origins. And, to this day, China continues to deny international access to their scientists and relevant facilities, all while casting blame widely and recklessly and censoring its own experts.</li>
<li>The World Health Organization has failed to publicly call on China to allow for an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, despite the recent endorsements for doing so by its own Emergency Committee. The World Health Organization&#8217;s failure to do so has promoted World Health Organization member states to adopt the &#8220;COVID-19 Response&#8221; Resolution at this year&#8217;s World Health Assembly, which echoes the call by the United States and so many others for an impartial, independent, and comprehensive review of how the World Health Organization handled the crisis. The resolution also calls for an investigation into the origins of the virus, which is necessary for the world to understand how to best counter the disease.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
This is a breaking news story, refresh the page for updates.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

SWITZERLAND-HEALTH-VIRUS-WHO

Trump Sends Scathing Letter To WHO: If ‘Major’ Changes Are Not Immediately Made U.S. Will Permanently Cut Funding, May Withdraw Membership

On Monday, the World Health Organization&#8217;s leading attorney stated that WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has &#8220;no mandate&#8221; to invite Taiwan to participate in its World Health Assembly (WHA) next week. WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon said member states have to make the decision, and their opinions were “divergent.”
<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/497157-who-says-it-cannot-invite-taiwan-to-upcoming-global-health-meeting">The Hill</a> reported that Solomon stated at a briefing with reporters, “To put it crisply, director-generals only extend invitations when it&#8217;s clear that member states support doing so, that director-generals have a mandate, a basis to do so. Today however, the situation is not the same. Instead of clear support there are divergent views among member states and no basis there for — no mandate for the DG to extend an invitation.”
Solomon acknowledged a proposal had been made “to the assembly itself to make a decision on an invitation … That is procedurally how it is supposed to work under the Constitution. All 194 Member States can consider the issue collectively, in accordance with the rules of procedure. Success depends on political will and political engagement, which underscores the point that this is a political issue that is properly in the hands of Member States,” <a href="https://healthpolicy-watch.org/member-states-submit-proposal-to-invite-taiwan-to-world-health-assembly/">Health Policy Watch</a> reported.
<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/says-no-mandate-invite-taiwan-161506406.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&amp;soc_trk=tw">Yahoo News</a> reported, “China berated New Zealand on Monday for its support for Taiwan&#8217;s participation at the WHO, saying the country should ‘stop making wrong statements’ on the issue to avoid damaging bilateral ties.”
On May 6, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-michael-r-pompeo-at-a-press-availability-5/">said Taiwan should be allowed to participate</a> at the WHA, adding that Ghebreyesus had the power to invite them. He asserted, “I also call upon WHO Director-General Tedros to invite Taiwan to observe this month&#8217;s WHA, as he has the power to do, and as his predecessors have done on multiple occasions.”
“On the <a href="https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA73/Background_on_supplementary_agenda.pdf">same day, a proposal for a vote on the issue by member states at the upcoming Assembly was submitted to WHO by the Central American country of Belize</a>. A swelling list of other sponsors have now formally added their names to the call, including the central American countries of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Paraguay; the Caribbean islands of Haiti, St. Lucia, <a href="https://www.gov.kn/">Saint Kitts and Nevis</a>; Eswatini in southern Africa; and the Pacific small island states of The Marshall Islands, Palau, Republic of Nauru, and Tuvalu,” Health Policy Watch noted.
The Hill noted, “Taiwan has earlier participated in WHA meetings as an observer state under the name ‘Chinese Taipei’ between 2009 and 2016, and that came about with increased relations between Beijing and Taipei. Yet Taiwan was refused an invitation in 2017 and has since not participated in the annual meeting.”
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-who-was-warned-in-december-about-the-coronavirus-taiwan-says-the-organization-ignored-the-warning">reported</a> on March 21:
<blockquote>Health officials in Taiwan say they warned the World Health Organization in December 2019 that the coronavirus could be passed via human-to-human contact, but the organization ignored its warnings, possibly due to its relationship with China, where the virus originated.
The Financial Times <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2a70a02a-644a-11ea-a6cd-df28cc3c6a68">reported</a> Friday that Taiwan made the claim, insisting the WHO didn’t communicate the possible ease of transmission early enough. Taiwan, the Times noted, “is excluded from the WHO because China, which claims it as part of its territory, demands that third countries and international bodies to not treat it in any way that resembles how independent states are treated.”
The Taiwanese health officials said doctors in the country learned that medical staff on mainland China were getting ill, suggesting human-to-human contact was possible. Officials in Taipei said they reported the information at the end of December 2019. Taiwanese government officials who spoke to the Times said their warnings were not shared by the WHO.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.  </blockquote>
&nbsp;

CHINA-HEALTH-VIRUS-WHO

China Wins Again: WHO Says Its Director-General Has No Mandate To Include Taiwan At Assembly

Taiwan

The World Health Organization fired back Monday at a blockbuster <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/corona-ausbruch-vertuscht-muss-china-fuer-die-pandemie-schaeden-zahlen-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000170816271">report from Der Spiegel</a>, revealing that WHO officials communicated with the Chinese government, and may have deliberately held back on giving other countries critical information about the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes the deadly COVID-19, after being pressured by China and its president, Xi Jinping.
The shocking report, published over the weekend in Germany and translated for American audiences on Saturday, provides compelling evidence that Xi Jinping asked WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to &#8220;withhold information about human-to-human transition and delay the declaration of a global pandemic,&#8221; per the <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/09/china-who-coronavirus-coverup-germany/">Daily Caller</a>, which published selections of the report for American audiences.
The report says that BND, the German Federal Intelligence Service, discovered that &#8220;Xi met with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on January 21&#8221; and asked the WHO to delay reporting accurate information about the novel coronavirus, including that the virus could be transmitted from human to human &#8212; something both China and the WHO denied in missives issued as late as mid-January.
Although the full report is available only in German, information from the Taiwanese government, claiming that it warned the WHO in mid-December that it had found evidence of significant community spread of the virus, seems to back up allegations that the WHO sat on evidence of person-to-person transmission for at least four to six weeks, causing significant global delays in addressing the coronavirus pandemic and possibly costing thousands of lives.
&#8220;Researchers at the University of Southampton found that if China had acted and gone public with its information just three weeks sooner, it could have reduced spread of the disease by as much as 95%,&#8221; the Daily Caller points out.
On Monday, the U.N. agency denied the report, calling it &#8220;unfounded and untrue&#8221; and decrying its allegations, sourced from German Intelligence, as  “false.&#8221;
&#8220;The U.N. agency said Tedros and Xi &#8216;have never spoken by phone&#8217; and added that &#8216;such inaccurate reports distract and detract from WHO’s and the world’s efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic,'&#8221; <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/10/who-denies-report-of-pressure-to-withhold-info">Euro News reports</a>. &#8220;It said that China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus on Jan. 20.&#8221;
The statement went on to say that the WHO “publicly declared” the discovery two days later, noting, finally, that “data collected … suggests that human-to-human transmission is taking place in Wuhan.”
The Chinese government also issued its own 30-page point-by-point refutation of the Der Spiegel report, claiming that it has been “open and transparent” about the spread of the novel coronavirus. Instead, quoting Abraham Lincoln, it accused President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence of misleading the world about COVID-19: “As Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all the time and fool all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.&#8221;
President Trump said, several weeks ago, that U.S. intelligence is undertaking an intensive investigation into the World Health Organization and whether it collaborated with China to hide evidence of community spread of the novel coronavirus. If it finds such evidence, the United States will withdraw its $400 million in funding from the global health group. The president has also said that U.S. intelligence services are investigating whether the virus may have escaped a lab in Wuhan.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">member</a>.

tedros

WHO, China Denies Org Did China’s Bidding, Hid Critical Coronavirus Information For Weeks

Xi Jinping

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) told Fox News&#8217;s Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that there was no doubt that Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pressured the World Health Organization (WHO) to downplay the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China.
&#8220;There&#8217;s no question Xi Jinping and senior officials in the Chinese Communist Party were pressuring the WHO all the way back to December to undersell the risk of this virus,&#8221; Cotton said. &#8220;They knew in China, early on, probably as early as the early days of December, that this virus was both highly contagious among humans and it was very deadly for certain people.&#8221;
&#8220;They wanted to make sure – they wanted to make sure that this – in addition to saving face, that, once they realized this virus was going to cripple their own economy, that it did not remain limited to China,&#8221; Cotton continued. &#8220;So, the WHO has some real answers to provide the world about why they bowed to Chinese pressure throughout December and January and turned what could have been a local health emergency in Wuhan into a global pandemic.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SenTomCotton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenTomCotton</a>: There’s “No Question” that Xi Jinping pressured the <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WHO</a> to downplay the risk of Coronavirus. <a href="https://t.co/7DH4GqvYOu">pic.twitter.com/7DH4GqvYOu</a>
&mdash; Benny (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1259537554984120321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.  
TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED VIA FOX NEWS:
<blockquote>MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: We have new developments this morning on the Chinese lab at the center of the coronavirus pandemic.
A new analysis of cell phone data points to a shutdown at that Wuhan facility for a week last October, two months before the virus reportedly first escaped from the lab.
My next guest was the first U.S. lawmaker to sound the alarm on the Communist Party&#8217;s handling of the outbreak.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton is with me. He&#8217;s a member of the Intelligence, Armed Services, and Banking committees.
And, Senator, it is an honor once again to have you on the program. Thanks so much for joining us.
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Thanks, Maria. Thank you.
BARTIROMO: We want to break news, so that our audience understands clearly what has taken place here. This is very important.
There is cell phone data that we have seen now that indicates that there was a shutdown of the Wuhan virology lab, the origin, likely origin of the coronavirus. Explain the cell phone data and why it&#8217;s important.
COTTON: So, Maria, reports emerged yesterday in the media that publicly available cell phone data suggests that roads around the lab in Wuhan was closed in the middle of October.
Again, this information is publicly available. American media has used it to analyze mobility patterns in states to see if our people are practicing social distancing. So the reports indicate that on major roads around these labs, Wuhan, you obviously had thousands and thousands of cell phones pinging towers day in and day out.
And then, all of a sudden, it stopped. And it remained stopped for several days. That would suggest, without any further information, that those roads were blocked for some reason.
Now, we need to go confirm that. We need to look at the data carefully. We also need to try to use other means to verify if there were, in fact, shutdowns of roads around those labs in the middle of October. The Chinese Communist Party could obviously help us with that, if they would open up and allow us to investigate what happened in Wuhan.
But if it is confirmed that roads around that lab were shut down for a number of days in mid-October, it is highly coincidental that there was a major shutdown of those roads at about the time one might have expected this virus to first get transmitted to humans, whatever the origins may have been.
But this would be another piece of circumstantial evidence that there was some kind of accident or outbreak from those labs, not from the seafood market or anywhere else. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s so important we get to the bottom of this data.
BARTIROMO: So, why would they shut down all activity around the Wuhan lab?
And, also, how weird is it that all activity would be shut down? I mean, analyze it in terms of comparing it to something else in America, so we can understand better. There&#8217;s always a lot of activity around that lab, right?
COTTON: There is.
So, remember, Wuhan is a city that is larger than New York City. So, obviously, its roads are highly trafficked and heavily congested. So to shutdown roads around the lab would suggest that they had some good reason to disrupt traffic patterns so severely.
So, again, first, we need to verify these reports, the cell phone data say what these media reports indicate, and then we need to use other sources to try to confirm what they suggest, which is, those roads were shut down.
And if that&#8217;s the case, if roads were shut down around these laboratories for several days in mid-October, then we need to figure out exactly why, because it&#8217;s simply another piece of circumstantial evidence that would support the idea that this virus originated from one of those labs.
BARTIROMO: Now, Senator, there is a conversation which is being written about in Der Spiegel, the German newspaper, which is also reported in The New York Post today.
The report is published this weekend. It says that Xi Jinping urged the World Health Organization chief to &#8212; quote &#8212; &#8220;delay a global warning&#8221; about the pandemic and hold back information on human-to-human transmission of the virus.
We know that the WHO, the World Health Organization, came out with a tweet on January 14 and said no human-to-human transmission of this virus, which was absolutely 100 percent wrong.
But now we&#8217;re getting news that, in fact, Xi Jinping himself talked to the head of the WHO to tell him, don&#8217;t go public with this.
COTTON: So, Maria, I don&#8217;t know about all of the specific details about those reports.
But there&#8217;s no question Xi Jinping and senior officials in the Chinese Communist Party were pressuring the WHO all the way back to December to undersell the risk of this virus.
They knew in China, early on, probably as early as the early days of December, that this virus was both highly contagious among humans and it was very deadly for certain people.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
COTTON: Yet they wanted to save face.
BARTIROMO: But, by the way&#8230;.
COTTON: They wanted&#8230;
BARTIROMO: Yes.
COTTON: They didn&#8217;t&#8230;
BARTIROMO: They wanted to save face, yes.
COTTON: They wanted to make sure &#8212; they wanted to make sure that this &#8212; in addition to saving face, that, once they realized this virus was going to cripple their own economy, that it did not remain limited to China.
So, the WHO has some real answers to provide the world about why they bowed to Chinese pressure throughout December and January and turned what could have been a local health emergency in Wuhan into a global pandemic.
BARTIROMO: Let me switch gears and ask you about your investigation into the Thousand Talents Program.
Tonight, on FOX News, we are running a special which is part of my three-year investigation into China. It will run tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern to discuss China&#8217;s behavior. And that&#8217;s why I want to talk about the Thousand Talents Program.
This has nothing to do with the coronavirus, but this is another way that the Chinese Communist Party has been able to spy on Americans and steal intellectual property.
Tell us what you&#8217;re doing with the Thousand Talents Program, and explain that program.
COTTON: So, Maria, the Thousand Talents Program sounds benign, even beneficial, but, in reality, it&#8217;s an espionage program.
The Chinese Communist Party is recruiting spies in United States. So, what they do is spun research, oftentimes at our most advanced laboratories or prestigious institutions of higher learning, to get technology, to get cutting-edge trade secrets back to China, and to train Chinese Communist Party-affiliated graduate and post-graduate students.
This just broke out a few months ago at Harvard, where the director, the chairman of the Department of Chemistry was arrested by the FBI and charged with lying about being part of the Thousand Talents Program.
What I think is the real scandal, though, is that participation in this talent program is legal. People who have been arrested for it tend to be arrested for things like lying to federal investigators, or wire fraud, or mail fraud, or what have you.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
COTTON: I&#8217;m going to propose legislation that would ban any researcher from accepting Chinese-affiliated funds&#8230;
BARTIROMO: That&#8217;s unbelievable.
COTTON: &#8230; if they are also working on federally funded programs and that would require universities to make their best efforts not to employ anyone who is a part of these talent programs.
BARTIROMO: So, that&#8230;
COTTON: We should not be &#8212; we should not be underwriting those people who are on the Chinese Communist Party&#8217;s payroll to&#8230;
BARTIROMO: Of course. Of course.
COTTON: &#8230; to send our most advanced cutting-edge technology back to China.
BARTIROMO: That professor was getting paid from Harvard. He was also getting paid from the CCP.
Real quick, before we go, I have got to get your take. You mentioned this the last time you were with us, that the Chinese Communist Party has sent engineers, research engineers, to some of our leading medical institutions.
Senator Cruz told me last week M.D. Anderson is having a major issue with this, because there are engineers trying to steal information to get China to get a cure for cancer before the United States.
Do you think they are in our medical institutions right now stealing science data to try to beat us to a COVID-19 vaccine? And, also, after they steal the data, are they then going ahead and filing for patents, their own Chinese patents, based on the information they got from America?
COTTON: Yes, Maria, China is using the exact techniques they have used in agriculture and semiconductor or computer chip technology to try to steal our most cutting-edge life science knowledge, to include coronavirus information, whether companies are working on therapeutic drugs or vaccines.
The Department of Homeland Security just issued a warning recently cautioning laboratories and companies and universities to keep their guard up for cyber-theft.
And, of course, like the Thousand Talents Programs, China runs talent programs to use human spies as well to try to steal that technology.
So, all of our institutions in the medical field, in the life sciences and pharmaceutical fields need to have their guard up against Chinese espionage.
BARTIROMO: And, by the way, in terms of the cell phone data that we know was completely stopped for that time in Wuhan in October, do we know if schools were closed, were businesses closed, in and around that area as well?
Can you glean that from the fact that there&#8217;s no cell phone activity as well, Senator?
COTTON: From the media reports, I don&#8217;t think you can, Maria.
But those are the kind of questions that you would want to ask to try to understand what was happening around those labs.
BARTIROMO: OK. I see. OK.
COTTON: It&#8217;s a very good point that, if you had schools closed or other businesses closed, that would again be an indicator of something happening, that the Chinese Communist Party wanted to kind of shut off activity around those labs.
BARTIROMO: Senator, thank you.
COTTON: Thank you.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Senator Tom Cotton</blockquote>

US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-INTELLIGENCE

Senator Cotton: ‘No Question’ That China Pressured W.H.O. In December To ‘Undersell The Risk Of This Virus’

Tom Cotton

There was much consternation and outrage when President Trump suspended funding to the World Health Organization last week. Outrage aside, WHO clearly deserves to lose funding just on the basis of the past two months alone. This is a health organization that has addressed a global pandemic by getting nearly everything wrong every step of the way. WHO originally covered for China and <a href="https://www.heritage.org/global-politics/commentary/the-world-health-organization-bows-china">downplayed</a> the threat posed by COVID-19, then reversed itself and called for draconian lockdowns, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52386386">insisting</a> that easing them could cause the virus to &#8220;reignite,&#8221;  and then seemingly reversed itself again by putting Sweden forward as a &#8220;<a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/29/who-lauds-sweden-as-model-for-resisting-coronavirus-lockdown/">model</a>&#8221; for battling the epidemic. I&#8217;m not sure that this performance is quite worth the $400 million in funding that we had been forking out.
But the case against WHO goes well beyond its stumbling response to the coronavirus. For many years, WHO has been a leading advocate for sexualizing and grooming children with <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/04/24/world-health-organizations-history-of-promoting-radical-sex-ed/">radical</a> &#8220;sex ed&#8221; courses. The Federalist has some details:
<blockquote>On the WHO’s official <a href="https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/about_us/hrp/partners/en/">website</a>, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is listed as one of the WHO’s major partners. Planned Parenthood is one of the largest world abortion providers. Additionally, the names and logos of top-tier UN agencies, including the WHO, all appear on the front cover of UNESCO’S “International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education” published in January 2018. This <a href="https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/technical-guidance-sexuality-education/en/">document</a> — posted on the WHO website — is laced with references to childhood sexuality, including these statements:</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>
<blockquote>“[Young] people want and need sexuality and sexual health information as early and comprehensively as possible.”</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>Children should have “agency in their own sexual practices and relationships.”</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>Comprehensive Sexuality Education can “help children … form respectful and healthy relationships with … sexual partners.”</blockquote>
</li>
</ul>
It gets much worse. As Summit News <a href="https://summit.news/2020/04/29/who-guidelines-encourage-children-younger-than-4-be-taught-masturbation-and-gender-identity/">reports</a>, the World Health Organization&#8217;s Standards for Sexuality Education in Europe: A framework for policymakers, educational and health authorities and specialists&#8221; provides a framework for sexual education, and the guidelines for even the youngest age groups are fairly shocking. The <a href="https://www.bzga-whocc.de/fileadmin/user_upload/WHO_BZgA_Standards_English.pdf">document</a> promotes a &#8220;holistic approach&#8221; that empowers children to become &#8220;more empowered in order to live out their sexuality and their partnerships in a fulfilling and responsible manner.&#8221; The true horror of this approach becomes clear when you realize that they want children as young as four to be &#8220;empowered&#8221; in this way.
An educational matrix within the document provides specific guidelines for different age groups. Children from ages 0-4, we&#8217;re told, should be &#8220;given information&#8221; about the &#8220;discovery of own body and own genitals&#8221; and &#8220;enjoyment and pleasure when touching one’s own body, early childhood masturbation.&#8221; They are also supposed to be informed of their &#8220;right to explore gender identities.&#8221; Children between 4-6 are supposed to be informed about the wonders of masturbation and genital exploration as well, with the added wrinkle that homosexual relationships are supposed to be introduced.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2z_tSk6Ze5o?start=44" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">﻿</iframe>
The guidelines get more graphic as you move into the older age brackets. About kids between the ages of 16 and 18, we are told: &#8220;The sexual career of young people usually proceeds as follows: kissing, touching and caressing with clothes on, naked petting, sexual intercourse (heterosexuals) and, finally, oral sex and sometimes anal sex.&#8221; The phrase &#8220;sexual career of young people,&#8221; coming from a giant bureaucratic organization, should severely creep you out. But then all of this &#8212; indeed, the very idea of government schools teaching sex ed &#8212; should creep you out.
It&#8217;s inevitable that government sex education will take a sharp left turn into this sort of grotesquery. That&#8217;s because every statement about sex is wrapped in the moral and philosophical beliefs of whoever is making it. It&#8217;s one thing to teach about human anatomy or the biological facts of human reproduction, but once you veer into lessons on the relative merits and proper or improper contexts for specific sexual acts and behaviors, you&#8217;ve entered a realm that will always be more ideological than scientific. It is the opinion of the degenerates at WHO that four-year-olds ought to be masturbating. Children at school don&#8217;t need to hear anyone&#8217;s opinions about sex &#8212; especially not that opinion. But that&#8217;s what sex ed always comes down to: opinions. And if the curriculum is developed and taught by hedonistic perverts, the children will be taught hedonistic and perverse opinions. There is no way around it.
The best way to stop these outrageously inappropriate and not-so-vaguely pedophilic sex ed courses is to stop all sex ed courses. Let the kids learn about the science of sex in science class. All of the rest of it should fall to parents to handle. And, no, this is not a veiled sales pitch for &#8220;abstinence education.&#8221; I don&#8217;t want government employees teaching my kids how not to have sex anymore than I want them teaching him how to have it. The case for abstaining until marriage is mostly moral, and I don&#8217;t think the classroom is the right place for that sort of instruction, nor do I trust the average school teacher to make the moral case against premarital sex effectively. All of this, again, should go to the parents. All the teacher needs to do is stick to the biological basics, though frankly I&#8217;m not sure we can trust them to handle even that anymore.

In this photo illustration the World Health Organization

WALSH: WHO’s Horrifying Sex Ed Guidelines Are Enough Reason To Defund Them

Planned Parenthood

Weeks after suggesting officials go door to door to find the sick and place them in &#8220;dignified&#8221; isolation, a leading official from the World Health Organization (WHO) is now calling Sweden, a Scandinavian nation that has largely rejected lockdown, a &#8220;model&#8221; in handling the China-originated novel coronavirus if countries want to &#8220;reach a new normal.&#8221;
Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said Wednesday that there are “lessons to be learned” from Sweden.
“I think there’s a perception out that Sweden has not put in control measures and just has allowed the disease to spread,” Ryan told reporters, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/29/who-lauds-sweden-as-model-for-resisting-coronavirus-lockdown/">The New York Post</a>. “Nothing can be further from the truth.”
&#8220;Ryan noted that instead of lockdowns, the country has &#8216;put in place a very strong public policy around social distancing, around caring and protecting people in long term care facilities,'&#8221; the Post noted.
“What it has done differently is it has very much relied on its relationship with its citizenry and the ability and willingness of its citizens to implement self-distancing and self-regulate,” said the WHO official. “In that sense, they have implemented public policy through that partnership with the population.”
“I think if we are to reach a new normal, Sweden represents a model if we wish to get back to a society in which we don’t have lockdowns,” added Ryan.
Sweden, rejecting lockdown, has opted for a more sustainable approach to tackling the virus, allowing lower education schools to remain open, as well as most businesses. The nation is currently seeing the a decrease in deaths, and the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/04/28/coronavirus-covid-19-sweden-anders-tegnell-herd-immunity/3031536001/">epidemiologist</a> behind the approach says Sweden is a matter of a few weeks away from herd immunity, which is a side effect of the strategy, he emphasized, not the goal.
Mere weeks ago, Ryan was singing a different tune.
“In most parts of the world, due to lockdown, most of the transmission that’s actually happening in many countries now is happening in the household, at family level,” acknowledged Ryan on March 30, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/who-official-lockdowns-driving-infections-from-street-to-household-suggests-removal-of-likely-infected-family-members-to-dignified-isolation">The Daily Wire</a> reported at the time. “In some senses, transmission has been taken off the streets and pushed back into family units.”
“Now, we need to go and look in families to find those people who may be sick and remove them and isolate them in a safe and dignified manner,” he continued.
“That’s what I was saying previously … the transition from movement restrictions and shutdowns and stay-at-home orders can only be made if we have in place the means to be able to detect suspect cases, isolate confirmed cases, track contacts, and follow up on the contacts’ health at all times,” explained Ryan, “and then isolate any of those people who become sick themselves.”
The WHO has faced growing criticism over their handling of the virus, or &#8220;act[ing] as Beijing’s handmaid,” as one <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/chinas-deadly-coronavirus-lie-co-conspirator-the-world-health-organization/">New York Post</a> column phrased it.
“The WHO should have known at the outset that it was dealing with a bad-faith actor in Beijing,” the Post said. “Yet ­instead of immediately insisting upon access, openness and transparency from China, WHO leadership followed the Chinese lead and at times even took the Chinese line.”
“The very fact that truth-seekers are left counting urns is an indictment not only of the Beijing ­regime, but also of the WHO. To help stem the pandemic, the WHO should have been tirelessly pressing China to tell the truth,” the column argued. “Far from sounding an alarm, however, the UN outfit was ­impassive while Beijing stonewalled international health ­authorities for weeks. Indeed, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/03/26/who-chief-praises-trumps-leadership-in-handling-coronavirus-pandemic/">praised the Chinese regime</a> for its ‘transparency’ in the crisis. Tedros, ­recall, was Beijing’s candidate for WHO chief and owes his job to China’s campaign for him at the United Nations.”
“When the full history of this episode is eventually written, the Chinese Communist Party will bear massive responsibility for this plague that has swept the earth. So will a World Health Organization that seemed too interested in the health of the Chinese regime at the moment of truth,” the Post blasted the WHO.
This article has been revised for clarity.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Health Emergencies Programme Director Michael Ryan

WHO Official Changes Tune After Suggesting Homes Be Searched, Sick Placed In Isolation: Sweden A ‘Model’

Former Vice President Joe Biden told CBS on Monday that he&#8217;d reverse the Trump Administration&#8217;s decision to investigate the World Health Organization and revoke funding if it&#8217;s discovered that the WHO collaborated with China to hide the true extent of that country&#8217;s coronavirus pandemic.
The WHO is under scrutiny for accepting and then parroting China&#8217;s explanations and excuses for the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. As late as January 14th, half a month after the first coronavirus patient died in Wuhan, China, the WHO was insisting that human-to-human transmission of the virus was impossible &#8212; at least according to Chinese authorities.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> (2019-nCoV) identified in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wuhan?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Wuhan</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#China</a>🇨🇳. <a href="https://t.co/Fnl5P877VG">pic.twitter.com/Fnl5P877VG</a>
&mdash; World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In addition, the WHO cut Taiwan, which considers itself an independent country from mainland China, even though China does not, out of the program to address the coronavirus pandemic, despite Taiwan&#8217;s high rate of success at containing and treating its own coronavirus pandemic &#8212; a success rate much better than China&#8217;s.
On repeated occasions, the WHO ignored questions about Taiwan&#8217;s handling of the coronavirus and, at one point, when other country&#8217;s began to question its position on Taiwan&#8217;s independence, accused the island nation of waging a &#8220;racist&#8221; campaign against the WHO.
Concerned that the WHO had imperiled the United States&#8217; coronavirus response, the United States opened an investigation in the global health body and has now threatened to revoke the hundreds of millions of dollars the U.S. provides each year, depriving the WHO of nearly half its operating budget.
Biden says the decision to defund the WHO is dangerous and that, as president, he&#8217;ll restore the WHO&#8217;s grant, <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/28/joe-biden-says-he-would-reverse-trumps-decision-to-defund-who/">according to the New York Post</a> &#8212; and then some.
“But I’ll also insist that we … do what we were doing before. We had set up a pandemic office within the White House, President Obama. We had CDC forward stationed in other countries to anticipate when we might see a virus coming, a pandemic coming, because there are gonna be more of these. So I would get much more engaged in the world,” Biden said, neatly sidestepping recently uncovered information indicating that the Obama administration, of which he was a major part, was instrumental in funding the Wuhan virology lab that may have been responsible for isolating the novel coronavirus.
The National Institute of Health is now investigating that virology labl.
&#8220;We can’t step back. If in fact, for example, we solve the problem in the United States of America, and you don’t solve in the other parts of the world, you know what’s going to happen. We’re going to have travel bans, we’re not going to have to do economic intercourse with the world,” Biden added.
Biden opposed the President Donald Trump&#8217;s travel ban against China, instituted in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Joe Biden Says He’d Reverse Trump’s Decision To Defund The WHO Despite Coronavirus Errors

On Monday, AFP reported that the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) microbiologist Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, actually stated that the world “should have listened” to WHO regarding the coronavirus.
<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200427-world-should-have-listened-to-who-on-covid-19-its-director-says">France 24</a> reported that Ghebreyesus, speaking to a virtual press briefing, said that WHO had “sounded the highest level of alarm over the novel coronavirus early on, but lamented that not all countries had heeded its advice,” adding that WHO had warned of a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” on January 30. He pontificated, &#8220;The world should have listened to WHO then carefully,&#8221; according to France 24.
The colossal nerve of Ghebreyesus allegedly claiming that the world should have listened to WHO comes months after the fact that on January 14, WHO took the word of the Communist Chinese government, tweeting, “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag">#coronavirus</a> (2019-nCoV) identified in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wuhan?src=hash" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag">#Wuhan</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hash" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag">#China</a>.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> (2019-nCoV) identified in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wuhan?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Wuhan</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#China</a>🇨🇳. <a href="https://t.co/Fnl5P877VG">pic.twitter.com/Fnl5P877VG</a>
&mdash; World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Additionally, WHO, ostensibly because of pressure from Communist China, excludes Taiwan from the organization, and reportedly ignored warnings from health officials in Taiwan as far back as December 2019 that the coronavirus could be passed via human-to-human contact.
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-who-was-warned-in-december-about-the-coronavirus-taiwan-says-the-organization-ignored-the-warning">The Daily Wire</a> reported on March 21:
<blockquote>The Financial Times <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2a70a02a-644a-11ea-a6cd-df28cc3c6a68">reported</a> Friday that Taiwan made the claim, insisting the WHO didn’t communicate the possible ease of transmission early enough. Taiwan, the Times noted, “is excluded from the WHO because China, which claims it as part of its territory, demands that third countries and international bodies to not treat it in any way that resembles how independent states are treated.”
The Taiwanese health officials said doctors in the country learned that medical staff on mainland China were getting ill, suggesting human-to-human contact was possible. Officials in Taipei said they reported the information at the end of December 2019. Taiwanese government officials who spoke to the Times said their warnings were not shared by the WHO.</blockquote>
Taiwan Vice President Chen Chien-jen stated, “While the [International Health Regulations’] internal website provides a platform for all countries to share information on the epidemic and their response, none of the information shared by our country’s [Centers for Disease Control] is being put up there. The WHO could not obtain first-hand information to study and judge whether there was human-to-human transmission of Covid-19. This led it to announce human-to-human transmission with a delay, and an opportunity to raise the alert level both in China and the wider world was lost.”
The Daily Wire added, “Reuters <a href="https://gcc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2Fus-china-health-pneumonia-who%2Fwho-says-new-china-coronavirus-could-spread-warns-hospitals-worldwide-idUSKBN1ZD16J&amp;data=02%7C01%7CAbboudMC%40state.gov%7C96b66fc036074a12457908d7cc490c5b%7C66cf50745afe48d1a691a12b2121f44b%7C0%7C0%7C637202486430633341&amp;sdata=7zOnVEr7atgn%2BoZRQWZaos5qemYV515wsBlYgOu%2BtCI%3D&amp;reserved=0">reported</a> that the WHO downplayed the potential transmission, saying for the first time on that day (January 14) there may have been human-to-human transmission. On January 15, the head of China’s CDC emergency center claimed the risk of human-to-human transmission was &#8216;low.&#8217;”
In January, Ghebreyesus stated, “As you know, I was in China just a few days ago, where I met with president Xi Jingping. I left in absolutely no doubt about China’s commitment to transparency and protecting the world’s people.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Yes. We should have listened to <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WHO</a>, the ones telling us Coronavirus wasn’t contagious in January, not recommending travel restrictions, and praising China’s handling of the outbreak. <a href="https://t.co/hAoADGWzGy">pic.twitter.com/hAoADGWzGy</a>
&mdash; Benny (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1254813719252647936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Social media lost no time in reminding Ghebreyesus just which entity the  world should really have been listening to:
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 <a href="https://t.co/GT5G7tmIwY">pic.twitter.com/GT5G7tmIwY</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1254805814969339905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🇹🇼
&mdash; Guy Benson (@guypbenson) <a href="https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/1254807506330824704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">subscriber</a>.

WHO Director General Snaps That World ‘Should Have Listened’ To Us, Report Says

On Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo admitted that President Trump had acted justly when he slammed the World Health Organization&#8217;s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Cuomo stated, “Whose job is it to warn us of these global pandemics? The president says it’s the World Health Organization and that’s why he’s taken action against them. Not my field, but he’s right to ask the question because this was too little, too late. And let’s find out what happened so it doesn’t happen again. And it will happen again. Bank on it. Let’s not put our head in the sand and say this is the only global pandemic that we’ll ever have to deal with.”
Cuomo’s admission must have been disquieting, at the very least, to members of the mainstream media who ripped Trump for his brusque treatment of the WHO.
Earlier this month, Trump fired at WHO, “They called it wrong. They really — they missed the call. And we’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO. We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it and we’re going to see. I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but we are going to look at it … The WHO really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look.”
On April 8, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/opinions/coronavirus-who-criticism-opinion-bociurkiw/index.html">CNN</a> ran an opinion piece ranting, “Trump&#8217;s unexpected tirade against the WHO &#8212; delivered on <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/campaigns/world-health-day/world-health-day-2020">World Health Day</a>, which honors frontline health workers &#8212; may be written off by some as just another crass attempt by the President to throw his base red meat. If that is the case, doing so in the midst of an unprecedented global public health emergency is disgusting and dangerous.”
On April 14, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-halts-funding-to-who-for-aiding-chinas-coverup-of-coronavirus">announced he was terminating funding</a> of WHO, stating:
<blockquote>Today I’m instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the Coronavirus. Everybody knows what’s going on there. American taxpayers provided between $400 million and $500 million per year to the W.H.O. In contrast China contributes $40 million a year and even less as the organization’s leading sponsor.” …
With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible. The reality is that the W.H.O. failed to adequately obtain, vet, and share information in a timely and transparent fashion. The world depends on the W.H.O. to work with countries to ensure that accurate information about international health threats is shared in a timely manner, and, if it’s not, to independently tell the world the truth about what is happening.
The W.H.O. failed in this basic duty and must be held accountable. The W.H.O. Failed to investigate credible reports from sources in Wuhan that conflicted directly with the Chinese government’s official accounts. There was credible information to suspect human to human transmission in December 2019, which should have spurred the W.H.O. to investigate and investigate immediately. Through the middle of January, it parroted and publicly endorsed the idea that there was not human to human happening despite reports and clear evidence to the contrary.”</blockquote>
The same day, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-who-funding.html">The New York Times</a> wrote, “The attack on the W.H.O., which was founded after World War II as part of the United Nations ‘to promote and protect the health of all peoples,’ was the latest example of the president’s attempt to shift the blame throughout the crisis.”
On April 15, NBC News ran an article that reported:
<blockquote>Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates <a href="https://twitter.com/BillGates/status/1250292126643941376">told his 50 million Twitter followers</a> that halting the WHO&#8217;s funding was &#8220;as dangerous as it sounds.&#8221; &#8220;Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped, no other organization can replace them,&#8221; Gates tweeted. &#8220;The world needs the WHO now more than ever.&#8221;</blockquote>
Video of Cuomo below:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Cuomo says President Trump is &quot;right&quot; to question World Health Organization&#39;s early handling of the coronavirus outbreak: &quot;This was too little, too late, and let&#39;s find out what happened so it does not happen again. And it will happen again. Bank on it.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/9T8aUPjUrs">https://t.co/9T8aUPjUrs</a> <a href="https://t.co/GU5HXss4Sb">pic.twitter.com/GU5HXss4Sb</a>
&mdash; CBS News (@CBSNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1253713797245816840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a subscriber.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Holds His Daily Coronavirus Briefing In Albany

WATCH: Andrew Cuomo Admits: Trump Was Right To Slam WHO. Media Hardest Hit.

Andrew Cuomo

Speaking on CNN’s &#8220;Reliable Sources&#8221; with host Brian Stelter, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki stated that anything that would contradict World Health Organization recommendations would be removed from the platform.
Wojcicki said, &#8220;We have actually seen a 75 percent increase in the news coming from authoritative sources since the beginning of 2020. So, we have seen a lot of demand there. But then we also —&#8221;
Stelter interrupted, &#8220;What does that mean? That means an increase in video views for those?&#8221;
Wojcicki continued, &#8220;Yes. And so we talk about that as raising authoritative information. But then we also talk about removing information that is problematic, you know. Of course, anything that is medically unsubstantiated. So people saying, like, take vitamin C, you know, take turmeric, like, those are — will cure you. Those are the examples of things that would be a violation of our policy. Anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations would be a violation of our policy. And so remove is another really important part of our policy.&#8221;
After a live-streamed video aired on April 6 with David Icke, whom the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52198946">BBC describes</a> as a “conspiracy theorist,” in which Icke claimed about the coronavirus that there &#8220;is a link between 5G and this health crisis,” as well as claiming that a coronavirus vaccine would include &#8220;nanotechnology microchips&#8221; permitting humans to be controlled and that billionaire Bill Gates should be jailed, YouTube deleted the video.
When the BBC queried why YouTube allowed the video to be aired, a YouTube spokesperson replied:
<blockquote>We have clear policies that prohibit videos promoting medically unsubstantiated methods to prevent the coronavirus in place of seeking medical treatment, and we quickly remove videos violating these policies when flagged to us. Now any content that disputes the existence or transmission of Covid-19, as described by the WHO [World Health Organization] and local health authorities is in violation of YouTube policies.
This includes conspiracy theories which claim that the symptoms are caused by 5G. For borderline content that could misinform users in harmful ways, we reduce recommendations. We&#8217;ll continue to evaluate the impact of these videos on communities around the world.</blockquote>
Wojcicki’s statement apparently goes further, as the statement from YouTube to the BBC said the platform would consider “content that disputes the existence or transmission of Covid-19, as described by the WHO” to be in violation of YouTube’s policies, but Wojcicki now broadens that prohibition to include “anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations.”
YouTube removed videos of Brazilian president Jair Messias Bolsonaro in which he extolled the virtues of hydroxychloroquine, saying it was the best treatment for COVID-19. <a href="https://www.axios.com/youtube-coronavirus-misinformation-videos-google-d9ce89cb-0de0-4f50-8a25-5923e078a858.html">Axios</a> reported on April 7, “YouTube is also aggressively enforcing existing medical misinformation policies that prohibit promoting false cures or encouraging people not to see a doctor. And it expanded that policy to bar promoting actions that go against recommendations from national health authorities. It was on that basis that the company took down posts by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the virus and the importance of social distancing and other precautions.”
Bolsonaro has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQmP9IB5oiA">stated</a>, “There is no coronavirus vaccination or highly effective medicine, but I still think hydroxychloroquine is quite effective. It will make the virus disappear quickly.&#8221;
When Neal Mohan, YouTube’s product chief, was asked if someone could post a video endorsing a drug yet to be approved by the FDA for treating coronavirus, he responded, &#8220;That gets at the challenge. It&#8217;s a balancing act&#8230;. We are not medical experts ourselves.&#8221;
Video below:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcocki says users are using the platform during the coronavirus crisis.
It started with basic information but now users “want to know about life under quarantine&#8230; like exercise at home. How do I fix my freezer? How do I give myself a haircut.” <a href="https://t.co/p8jxTUBRte">pic.twitter.com/p8jxTUBRte</a>
&mdash; Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReliableSources/status/1251910060311265280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1587599148037000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFYpEM4wd1oTRDuU2nApzdWt7wN5w">subscriber</a>.

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WATCH: Andrew Cuomo Admits: Trump Was Right To Slam WHO. Media Hardest Hit.

WATCH: YouTube CEO: We’ll Remove Any Content That Goes Against WHO Recommendations

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World Health Organization

WHO Official: COVID-19 ‘One Big Wave,’ Not Seasonal

Pompeo Tells British That WHO Chief Was ‘Bought’ By Chinese, Report Says

Biden Rebukes Trump’s Decision To Withdraw From WHO With Day One Promise

United States Will Withdraw From The World Health Organization

70 Coronavirus Testing Sites Reportedly Destroyed During Riots

After Widespread Confusion, WHO Clarifies ‘Very Rare’ Asymptomatic Transmission Comment

WHO Official Says Asymptomatic Spread Of COVID-19 ‘Very Rare’; UPDATE: Official Walks Back Claim

Trump Terminates America’s Membership In World Health Organization Over China Coronavirus Scandal

WHO Returns To Praising China As Leaders Say They Don’t Believe U.S. Will Pull Funding

WHO Pauses Research Into Hydroxychloroquine As Covid-19 Treatment

Trump Sends Scathing Letter To WHO: If ‘Major’ Changes Are Not Immediately Made U.S. Will Permanently Cut Funding, May Withdraw Membership

China Wins Again: WHO Says Its Director-General Has No Mandate To Include Taiwan At Assembly

WHO, China Denies Org Did China’s Bidding, Hid Critical Coronavirus Information For Weeks

Senator Cotton: ‘No Question’ That China Pressured W.H.O. In December To ‘Undersell The Risk Of This Virus’

WALSH: WHO’s Horrifying Sex Ed Guidelines Are Enough Reason To Defund Them

WHO Official Changes Tune After Suggesting Homes Be Searched, Sick Placed In Isolation: Sweden A ‘Model’

Joe Biden Says He’d Reverse Trump’s Decision To Defund The WHO Despite Coronavirus Errors

WHO Director General Snaps That World ‘Should Have Listened’ To Us, Report Says

WATCH: Andrew Cuomo Admits: Trump Was Right To Slam WHO. Media Hardest Hit.

WATCH: YouTube CEO: We’ll Remove Any Content That Goes Against WHO Recommendations

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