The “myth” of asymptomatic spread of a virus: sick until proven healthy

The covid pandemic introduced us to an interesting new phenomenon:  You are spreading illness despite being asymptomatic to said illness.  Now, I am not going to say that in the history of never has someone not had a sniffle they thought were allergies but were actually a head cold brewing up and passed said cold onto others.  It certainly happens.  But those are not “asymptomatic”.  Those are “early mild symptoms”.  I am talking about a completely healthy person with ZERO signs of a respiratory illness allegedly passing that respiratory illness they are asymptomatically carrying to another individual.

Today we are looking at an interesting article by Dr. Aaron Kheriaty about the myth of asymptomatic spread of covid, and how it led to the massive lockdowns and mask mandates known in current times.

The Specter of Asymptomatic Spread

Did you know that the asymptomatic spread hypothesis began in early 2020 from ONE SINGLE CASE of “possible” asymptomatic spread in Germany?  Yep!  The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) wrote a seminal journal article about this one person who spread covid while asymptomatic.  And it spread like wildfire.  “You can get sick from someone who has no idea they have covid!”.  What the NEJM did NOT report on, is that their journal article was debunked shortly after publication.  Someone tracked down that lovely German woman and she informed them that no, she was not asymptomatic, she actually did have respiratory illness symptoms but did not have the classic fever associated with covid, so she believed to have just a common cold, not covid. HUGE false alarm.  Did they print a retraction?  No.  Did the medical guru’s in charge of reporting covid everyday bother to tell us that the NEJM was wrong?  Nope.  They continued to run with the theory, and it was a huge driver for mask mandates and social distancing that continue to this day in some parts of our country.

In June 2020, we had another chance to squash the asymptomatic spread theory.  The WHO director general put out a statement saying that asymptomatic spread was “possible”.  The SAME DAY, the technical lead for the WHO’s covid response team came back out and said no, asymptomatic spread in respiratory viruses is next to nil, very rare.  This did not sit well, as it conflicted with what her boss has released earlier in the day.  How do you squash the truth that the technical lead shared?  Well.  Interesting chain of events.  A week after the technical lead stated asymptomatic spread was rare to never, she was approached by Harvard’s Global Health Institute, and told to back track her statement and align with her director generals statement regarding asymptomatic spread.  They forced her to change her statement to “the jury is still out” rather than asymptomatic spread is rare to never occurring.

The damage was now done.  This narrative led to us assuming EVERYONE was sick unless they proved they were not sick.  How did they prove they were not sick?  Well, they had to take a covid test!  And PROVE they were NOT sick.  Now, when in the history of EVER have we required someone to PROVE they are NOT SICK?  Never.  From 2019 and earlier, have you ever had to take a flu test to prove you were not sick before going to Christmas dinner?  Nope.  Take a flu test to fly?  Go to a concert?  Sporting event?  Nope.  I won’t even go down the road of “did you have to show proof of a flu vaccine to do any of these things” either.  We already know the answer is no.

The damage this “sick until proven otherwise” propaganda spread has been devastating.  People have been forced to stay home from work until a negative covid test proves them to be healthy.  We no longer viewed people as safe, we viewed people as “dangerous germ carrying asymptomatic covid super spreaders” until they proved they were not.  What is the psychological damage of this?  You begin to not trust others around you.  You assume everyone you encounter is sick and dirty.  You see someone without a mask on and instantly get angry that “they may be sick and not know it and they are SPREADING IT TO EVERYONE”.  How many public mask arguments have you seen?  People yelling and screaming at someone for not wearing a mask?  Why do you think the masked up person is yelling?  FEAR!  The news told them to be afraid of everyone!!! This led to people isolating and avoiding any kind of social gatherings.  “Someone may be asymptomatic and infect all of us”.  The MYTH and the LIE that was built on ONE PERSON alleging asymptomatic spread in Germany that was SHOWN TO BE NOT TRUE IN EARLY 2020.  Look at the damage that has done.  What better way to divide the country than to scare them, prevent them from gathering, sitting them in front of a television or computer that feeds them fear all day long.

ONE person claimed asymptomatic spread.  FALSE claim.  Printed as TRUTH in a highly prestigious journal New England Journal of Medicine. SHOWN to be false after a simple investigation of the alleged asymptomatic spreader who VERIFIED she did indeed have symptoms.  BURIED and hidden so that the fear of asymptomatic spread could continue to lockdown and divide a nation.  Unacceptable.  The next time someone tells me to follow the science and trust the science, I will gladly point to this fallacy NEJM article and ask them to defend this false science that was spread as truth, and then ask them why should I trust a pharma company paid for journal article reporting that is about as truthful as the dude searched by a police officer and found with a marijuana pipe in his pants claiming someone else must have put it there cause it isn’t his.