This is important, because lots of internet commentators are just going with the most alarming possible statements: 28 day incubation periods, people can get infected twice, airborne transmission, asymptomatic transmission. These assertions are
all based on outlier cases, sometimes even
single cases, observed during the fog of war. Even if these accounts are correct, they aren't the typical case, which is what actually matters for policy and prevention.
The typical case has been well-known for months: most people get fevers, the incubation period is usually a few days, and most transmission is from symptomatic cases and via droplets. The WHO has collected stats from tens of thousands of cases and they've been straightforwardly pointing in this direction the entire time.
There definitely is a serious problem, but misinformation helps nobody, even if its spreaders are well-meaning. For example, I've seen a lot of people take the inflated statements ("28 day incubation period!!") to mean that stopping the spread is completely impossible, while we have seen by example that it isn't.
The typical case has been well-known for months: most people get fevers, the incubation period is usually a few days, and most transmission is from symptomatic cases and via droplets. The WHO has collected stats from tens of thousands of cases and they've been straightforwardly pointing in this direction the entire time.
There definitely is a serious problem, but misinformation helps nobody, even if its spreaders are well-meaning. For example, I've seen a lot of people take the inflated statements ("28 day incubation period!!") to mean that stopping the spread is completely impossible, while we have seen by example that it isn't.