A week and a half ago the Biden administration officially declared monkeypox to be a national public health emergency. Unsurprisingly, conspiracy theories abound, many of them recycled from COVID-19 and older antivax conspiracy theories.

A week and a half ago the Biden administration officially declared monkeypox to be a national public health emergency. Unsurprisingly, conspiracy theories abound, many of them recycled from COVID-19 and older antivax conspiracy theories.
Last week, 239 scientists in 32 countries published an open letter to the WHO arguing that airborne transmission of COVID-19 occurs and urging it to change its recommendations. What is behind this controversy?
Yesterday, the World Health Organization walked back its statement that asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 is “very rare.” This was after COVID-19 deniers had had a field day using that statement to attack social distancing, contact tracing, and mask wearing. It was a science communication disaster.
A story claiming that the WHO just said that asymptomatic COVID-19 patients don’t transmit coronavirus. Spoilers: It didn’t. However, the WHO’s message added unnecessary confusion and led COVID-19 deniers to say masks and social distancing are not necessary.
China has long promoted the sale and use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Now the city of Beijing wants to criminalize criticism of TCM.