
Candidate to Lead the W.H.O. Accused of Covering Up Epidemics (2017) - Khelavaster
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/health/candidate-who-director-general-ethiopia-cholera-outbreaks.html
======
aaron695
Yet WHO still did better than all countries.

The open data on the internet in January was explicit. I'm not sure any
country acted on the real obvious stuff to do in January.

I also think few countries are acting on the real obvious stuff today.

Some things are complicated that will take years to know if they worked (For
instance travel bans) but there are still things that should be done today
that simply are not.

Like random testing of the population in different test sites around the world
to understand how it spreads.

Like a global effort to sort the data coming out in a open way, not just
dumping large amounts of research papers on a site.

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DevKoala
There is a pattern here.

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williesleg
Why do we get links from hacker news to paywalls? Oh, right....

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leetcrew
because it's explicitly allowed and most can be circumvented with a little
effort?

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tomohawk
It's not just him at the WHO.

[https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/09/why-the-who-is-a-
danger...](https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/09/why-the-who-is-a-danger-to-
public-health/)

~~~
ceejayoz
It's pretty hilarious for The Federalist to be accusing others of being a
threat to public health.

[https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/25/21190928/twitter-locks-
ac...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/25/21190928/twitter-locks-account-
encouraging-coronavirus-chickenpox-parties)

> On Wednesday, Twitter briefly locked conservative site The Federalist’s
> account for suggesting people deliberately expose themselves to the novel
> coronavirus. The Federalist promoted the medically unsound idea of “medical
> ‘chickenpox parties’” to infect young, healthy people with the virus under
> controlled quarantine.

Their staff were downplaying this for quite some time, including long after
the "the WHO [took] until March 11 to even declare a pandemic":

"Why Your Parents Aren’t Idiots For Not Freaking Out About Coronavirus Like
You Are": [https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/23/why-your-parents-
arent-...](https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/23/why-your-parents-arent-idiots-
for-not-freaking-out-about-coronavirus-like-you-are/)

"Inaccurate Virus Models Are Panicking Officials Into Ill-Advised Lockdowns":
[https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/25/inaccurate-virus-
models...](https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/25/inaccurate-virus-models-are-
panicking-officials-into-ill-advised-lockdowns/)

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nradov
Put the source aside. What specifically is worse about this proposal than the
current approach? A safe and effective vaccine is likely several years away.
The economy can't be locked down for that long. The virus is too easily
transmissible for containment and contract tracing to be effective. So most of
us will be infected eventually. If they're going to get it anyway then doing
so in a controlled environment might be a good option for some volunteers.

I'm not endorsing this approach, but we ought to at least analyze it rather
than rejecting it out of hand.

~~~
ceejayoz
> What specifically is worse about this proposal than the current approach?

False dichotomy. There are far better things we could try.

One proposal I've seen batted around is widespread, rapid testing. Checkpoints
on the interstates and elsewhere where you get one of the 15 minute rapid
tests and get a day pass to continue on your way.

We know we can get R0 down with distancing; NYC's falling new hospitalizations
numbers are a clear sign of that. Testing allows us to relax restrictions
without it flaring up so fast, and lets us find the flare.

Add in universal, required mask wearing. None of the wishy-washy "we
recommend..." bullshit.

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nradov
It seems unlikely that the current Supreme Court would countenance such a
blatant violation of the 1st and 4th Amendments regardless of the potential
public health benefits. If you're going to propose an alternative then it
needs to be something that could actually be implemented in the real world.

More widespread voluntary testing is certainly needed but it's going to take a
while to scale up capacity.

~~~
ceejayoz
The Supreme Court has a long history of upholding things like quarantines and
curfews during public health emergencies.

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nradov
Read the precedents. There's no question that infectious disease carriers can
be forcibly quarantined. But forcing apparently healthy people to undergo an
invasive medical procedure (a search) in order to exercise their right to
assemble would be another thing altogether. And long-term curfews for adults
have never been upheld.

~~~
ceejayoz
We've already banned or severely restricted the right to assemble in like 40+
states, and there's not much reason to believe that won't survive court
challenges.

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throwawaysea
Apart from the WHO’s terrible performance on COVID-19, they’re also currently
once again embroiled in a scandal about testing vaccines without patient
consent: [https://gizmodo.com/who-accused-of-conducting-vaccine-
trial-...](https://gizmodo.com/who-accused-of-conducting-vaccine-trial-
without-partici-1841939166)

~~~
lifeisgood99
The article cites an opinion piece by Peter Doshi. I'm seeing some claims
opposing his credibility on other pieces: [https://www.snopes.com/fact-
check/flu-vaccine-dangers/](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/flu-vaccine-
dangers/) Who is this guy?

