The World Health Organization's double pivot on asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 was a result of being beholden to "Chinese talking points" over science, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday on Newsmax TV.
"Absolutely were concerned about asymptomatic spread," Azar told Newsmax TV's Emerald Robinson in an exclusive interview on "The Chris Salcedo Show." "We've got a fairly large percent of people that are testing positive who are asymptomatic."
The "viral load" of droplets from asymptomatic COVID-19 positive cases "can be just as strong as somebody who has symptoms," Azar added.
The WHO had to pull back on a statement that asymptomatic spread amid the global coronavirus pandemic was "rare," but Azar suggested its misleading and contradictory statements have origins in "Chinese talking points."
"So we don't know what the WHO was thinking with what they said," Azar continued. "There was no evidence or data behind what they said, except frankly, they were repeating the Chinese talking point the WHO had been repeating for quite sometime back in January and February."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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