I read last night that a possible reason for the increase in reported positive Wuhan virus cases is due to employers requiring workers to test before returning to work. Most people, the young in particular, experience few to no symptoms from the virus. I read this here:
excerpt:
…Now, with all of this, it was just two weeks ago that an official from the World Health Organization took five minutes to explain to us why the spread of the virus was “very rare” by asymptomatic people. Take a few minutes to watch it for yourself, by clicking the image below (or [here]
As we discussed that day in my Pro Perspectives note, this would be a game changer – a cause for celebration.
In the hours that followed, this official took a lot of heat, and by the next day, she was trying to walk it back. But the retraction, wasn’t much of a retraction. If we listen to her, it’s fair to say that she didn’t make a mistake, but the WHO doesn’t want that message out as policy.
You can see that in the video below (just click the image or click [here]
By the way, this was not just some spokesperson, this was from
the technical lead of the Covid response, and the head of emerging diseases at the WHO . She’s a Cornell and Stanford educated epidemiologist, who was on the ground in China for two weeks in March and regularly does press conferences.
Finally, with this perspective and with the rising cases, keep in mind that young people are representing a large proportion of positive tests. And many young people are asymptomatic. And employers (such as restaurants) are requiring employees to get tested, in order to return to work. As schools reopen, the numbers will continue to rise, and so will the positivity rate.
As for the economy, regardless of the trajectory of cases, Trump and Mnuchin have made it clear that there will not be another economic shutdown.
