{"id":808236,"date":"2020-06-09T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=384722"},"modified":"2020-06-09T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T00:00:00","slug":"summit-county-officials-defend-mask-rule-amid-changing-international-opinion-on-virus-spread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-county-officials-defend-mask-rule-amid-changing-international-opinion-on-virus-spread\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit County officials defend mask rule amid changing international opinion on virus spread"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Passengers wearing face masks depart from a Summit Stage bus at the Frisco Transfer Center on May 12. Recent news from the World Health Organization indicates people without symptoms are unlikely to spread the virus, but Summit County officials said the mask rule will remain. <\/strong>
Jason Connolly \/ jconnolly@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

KEYSTONE \u2014 If one thing is certain about the novel coronavirus, it\u2019s that health officials don\u2019t know much about it. The details of the virus are so murky, even large agencies like the World Health Organization have gone back and forth on different aspects of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The uncertainty surrounding the virus became apparent Tuesday, when Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO\u2019s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, had to clarify her statements on asymptomatic spreading. <\/p>\n

At a news conference Monday<\/a>, Kerkhove said the spread of the disease among people who do not show symptoms of the virus is \u201cvery rare.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing,\u201d she said at Monday\u2019s news conference. \u201cThey are following asymptomatic cases. They\u2019re following contacts, and they’re not finding secondary transmission onward. It is very rare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many people took the news to mean local governments should loosen restrictions in place to slow the spread of the virus. Summit County officials have no plans to change the public health order based on this news, county spokesperson Michael Wurzel said. Instead, the county follows the lead of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe study ultimately looked at totally asymptomatic people, not people being in very mild conditions that do not know they have COVID or pre-symptomatic people,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we think the headline was attention grabbing, but it appears to be pretty limited in its actual scope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerkhove touched on Wurzel\u2019s point at Monday\u2019s news conference. While spread among people who truly don’t have any symptoms might be rare, many people can appear to be asymptomatic because they had mild symptoms or symptoms not attached to the virus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we actually go back and say how many of them were truly asymptomatic, we find out that many have really mild disease, very mild disease,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re not COVID symptoms, meaning they may not have developed fever yet, they may not have had a significant cough or they may not have shortness of breath.”<\/p>\n

During a live Q&A Tuesday morning, Kerkhove clarified what she meant by her statements Monday and explained that the details of asymptomatic spread are still largely unknown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that people who are infected with COVID-19, many develop symptoms, but there are some people who do not,\u201d she said. \u201cTo truly understand how many people don\u2019t have symptoms, we don\u2019t have that answer yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

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