Example of US Government’s latest Coronavirus Propaganda

Earlier Allen had talked about US government’s effort to smear China. While Trump has moderated his rhetoric after the G20 call with Xi, the propaganda push continues with latest round accusing China of deliberate under counting.

The obvious fake news from the likes of Falun Gong are easy to spot, but the consistent Echo Chamber by mainstream media is harder. For example this article from US government funded propaganda outlet Voice of America contributing to the claim Chinese government is excluding or not counting asymptomatic individual: https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/china-officials-exclude-asymptomatic-covid-19-carriers-data

The sixth edition of the guidelines, released March 7, reads, “Asymptomatic patients with clinical manifestations will be promptly amended as confirmed cases.”

This is an especially insidious piece of propaganda. Although VOA translated the part they want you to focus on about asymptomatic individual not being classified as confirmed case thus excluded, its conclusion defies logic – how is it possible to say these cases are not tracked, if their classification are to be amended later?

VOA simply left out the part about counting asymptomatic individual. Here’s the relevant section omitted, from the 6th edition coronavirus reporting guideline – asymptomatic positive cases are in fact counted as suspicious case and amended to confirmed case once symptomatic:

(3) Report Early.

1.Case report.

Various healthcare organization should report suspected, confirmed, asymptomatic individual within 2 hours online. …

2. Report Update. Suspected cases should be immediately updated on confirmation or exclusion. Asymptomatic positive individual should be immediately updated as confirmed, on symptom manifestation.

（三）早报告。

1.病例报告。

各级各类医疗卫生机构发现疑似病例、确诊病例、无症状感染者时，应当于2小时内进行网络直报。…

2.报告订正。疑似病例确诊或排除后及时订正。无症状感染者如出现临床表现，及时订正为确诊病例。

And here’s the irony – while the Chinese test and track asymptomatic positive cases, we don’t count them because we don’t test people without symptom. Here’s what Yale School of Medicine said early on that never made press:

Surveillance is inherently difficult, especially for a respiratory disease caused by a novel virus during what is normally flu season in China. … So, just because the modeled projection and the numbers on the ground don’t add up, it does not imply that there is a cover up. The institutes in China have thus far done an outstanding job of communicating throughout a very challenging and dynamic situation.