The myth of asymptomatic COVID transmission doomed America’s pandemic response
by Paul Alexander
Asymptomatic spread is virtually non-existent, and if this does occur, it would account for fewer than 1% of cases.
We have no documented proof, no documented evidence of asymptomatic spread occurring in any appreciable manner. I argue that the concept of asymptomatic spread for COVID-19 has been a falsehood and a means both to deceive and mislead then-President Trump and the nation and to drive fear and paranoia.
How did this issue of ‘asymptomatic spread’ come about? Spread of a pathogen will occur more surely when the carriers are sick with symptoms, especially if the symptoms function to expel the pathogen into the surrounding air. Having no symptoms or very mild symptoms reduces the risk of spread, and with no symptoms, spread is basically removed. This is the same for SARS-CoV-2 virus, and a recent BMJ publication pretty well concludes that asymptomatic COVID carriers are rarely the drivers they were thought to be.
This is basic immunology and should not be changed for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). I also recognize that I must be careful not to claim ‘zero,’ for the evidence changes daily and rapidly, and absence of documented evidence is also not a reason to entirely rule out ‘asymptomatic spread.’ It just may not have been studied yet or documented optimally. But I am confident enough based on the existing literature to agree that ‘it is a dangerous assumption to believe that there is persuasive, scientific evidence of asymptomatic transmission’.
The basis for the societal lockdowns was that 40% to 50% of persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 could potentially spread it, even though asymptomatic. “But fears that the virus may be spread to a significant degree by asymptomatic carriers soon led government leaders to issue broad and lengthy stay-at-home orders and mask mandates out of concerns that anyone could be a silent spreader.” ‘Asymptomatic spread’ existence was a bogus claim by the administration and medical advisors meant to drive fear, and it continues to this day when they know they are deceiving the public.
A high-quality review study by Madewell, published in JAMA sought to estimate the secondary attack rate of SARS-CoV-2 in households and determine factors that modify this parameter. In addition, researchers sought to estimate the proportion of households with index cases that had any secondary transmission, and also compared the SARS-CoV-2 household secondary attack rate with that of other severe viruses and with that to close contacts for studies that reported the secondary attack rate for both close and household contacts.
The study was a meta-analysis of 54 studies with 77,758 participants. Secondary attack rates represented the spread to additional persons, and researchers found a 25-fold increased risk within households between symptomatic positive infected index persons versus asymptomatic infected index persons. “Household secondary attack rates were increased from symptomatic index cases (18.0%; 95% CI, 14.2%-22.1%) than from asymptomatic index cases (0.7%; 95% CI, 0%-4.9%)”. This study showed just how rare asymptomatic spread was within a confined household environment.
From the nearly 2 million children who were followed in school in Sweden, it was reported that with no mask mandates, there were zero deaths from Covid and only a few instances of transmission and minimal hospitalization.
In the UK, the “Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies” recommended that “[p]rioritizing rapid testing of symptomatic people is likely to have a greater impact on identifying positive cases and reducing transmission than frequent testing of asymptomatic people in an outbreak area.”
A study published in Nature found no instances of asymptomatic spread from positive asymptomatic cases among all 1,174 close contacts of the cases, based on a base sample of 10 million people. “There were no positive tests amongst 1,174 close contacts of asymptomatic cases”. AIER’s Zucker responded this way: “The conclusion is not that asymptomatic spread is rare or that the science is uncertain. The study revealed something that hardly ever happens in these kinds of studies. There was not one documented case. Forget rare. Forget even Fauci’s previous suggestion that asymptomatic transmission exists but not does drive the spread. Replace all that with: never. At least not in this study for 10,000,000.” LifeSiteNews reported similarly.
A study on infectivity of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers was carried out by Goa at al. Researchers looked at the 455 contacts who were exposed to the asymptomatic COVID-19 virus carrier. They were divided into three groups: 35 patients, 196 family members, and 224 hospital staff. “No severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was detected in 455 contacts by nucleic acid test”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also made the claim that asymptomatic spread/transmission is rare, and yet this issue of asymptomatic spread is the key issue being used to force vaccination in children. The science remains contrary to this proposed policy mandate. Even Dr. Fauci of NIAID said asymptomatic transmission is rare, and that an epidemic is not driven by asymptomatic carriers.
As an update that has come 19 months too late, the WHO recommended on June 29 2021 that there be no testing of asymptomatic persons. This is after trillions of dollars have been sucked out of economies and many lives lost due to sudden unemployment and closures of societies and schools. Many people killed themselves because of the unscientific and illogical testing policy of asymptomatic persons.
Additionally, a high-quality, robust study in the French Alps examined the spread of Covid-19 virus via a cluster of Covid-19. Researchers followed one infected child who visited three different schools and interacted with other children, teachers, and various adults. They reported no instance of secondary transmission despite close interactions. These data have been available to the CDC and other health experts for over a year. As mentioned earlier, Ludvigsson published a seminal paper in the New England Journal of Medicine on Covid-19 among children 1 to 16 years of age and their teachers in Sweden.
A June 10, 2021 op-ed sheds more confirmatory light that asymptomatic spread was more a myth than a reality. Ballan and Tindall wrote, “People presenting with symptoms of Covid-19 are almost exclusively responsible for transmitting SARS-CoV-2. Serious infection usually results from frequent exposure to high doses of SARS-CoV-2, such as health care workers caring for sick Covid-19 patients in hospitals or nursing homes and people living in the same household.”
I conclude that we were fooled and scared into shutting down our lives and our economies with the following untruths and misleading positions:
1) that we are all at equal risk of severe outcomes if infected, e.g., 15-year-old Johnny and his 90-year-old granny;
2) that asymptomatic spread is a real thing although after 19 months it has not been proven;
3) that recurrent infection is a real thing although after 19 months it has not been proven;
4) that vaccine immunity with the narrow ‘immature’ spike-specific Wuhan strain library of immunity is superior to natural exposure immunity that we know is broad, robust, durable, and often life-long;
5) that the RT-PCR test with its 97% false positive rate above cycle counts of 30 or so is credible;
6) that there was no early drug treatment when we knew that there were safe, effective, cheap, and available treatments available day one in this emergency; and
7) a vaccine was the only way out of this emergency.
These seven lies along with CDC’s failed botched testing early in the response (March/April 2020) blinded the US’s response and kept the US blind for five weeks, allowing the virus to seed across the eastern and western flanks of the nation. This testing failure by the CDC was catastrophic to the US initial response and may have harmed it irreparably. These above mentioned errors severely damaged President Trump’s response, and he was greatly misled by his advisors. He must be praised for his efforts, but it was clear that ever day on the White House podium he was being worked against and the emergency response almost daily became a clown car show. I do praise Giroir for trying to fix the devastation of CDC’s botched testing.
Importantly, we now see the vaccine failing against the Delta variant in many places e.g. UK, Israel, Iceland, Gibraltar, and the USA, and infections are principally emerging among double vaccinated persons, as well as hospitalizations, severe illness, and deaths. Vaccinated persons are potentially transmitting the virus and harboring massive loads orally and in their nasal passages.
But to recap, the points mentioned above harmed the USA’s response and damaged President Trump’s efforts, and also the efforts of other nations that followed the USA and took guidance from them.
Published by Life Site News
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/the-myth-of-asymptomatic-transmission-of-covid-doomed-americas-pandemic-response/