#TheGreatBarringtonDeclaration calls for allowing #covid19 to spread openly while “protecting” the elderly/vulnerable.
While I actually believe the authors mean well, there are multiple reasons why I believe this is a seriously problematic proposition.
THREAD:
While I actually believe the authors mean well, there are multiple reasons why I believe this is a seriously problematic proposition.
THREAD:
2/
-With asymptomatic & presymptomatic spread, the virus will inevitably find its way beyond the first layer of “healthy” people, esp in crowded households & intergenerational households— & especially in our most vulnerable communities who are more likely to run this risk.
-With asymptomatic & presymptomatic spread, the virus will inevitably find its way beyond the first layer of “healthy” people, esp in crowded households & intergenerational households— & especially in our most vulnerable communities who are more likely to run this risk.
3/
-Allowing millions of cases to spread unabashedly will absolutely mean at least several thousands of cases requiring hospitalizations. And those of us who are still working on the frontlines will be the ones — once again— fighting to care for patients w/o adequate supplies.
-Allowing millions of cases to spread unabashedly will absolutely mean at least several thousands of cases requiring hospitalizations. And those of us who are still working on the frontlines will be the ones — once again— fighting to care for patients w/o adequate supplies.
4/
-Millions of sick young Americans may have mild disease that doesn’t kill them— but the *morbidity* costs are real. We still have so much to understand about longer term effects. Subjecting people to a novel virus that we are still understanding and studying is inhumane.
-Millions of sick young Americans may have mild disease that doesn’t kill them— but the *morbidity* costs are real. We still have so much to understand about longer term effects. Subjecting people to a novel virus that we are still understanding and studying is inhumane.
5/ Why is #HerdImmunity being proposed as a “strategy”? When so many countries have controlled this epidemic by employing fundamental public health response tactics, why are we making excuses? Why are we unwilling to put in the work that so many others have done?
6/ Ultimately, we are letting this “strategy” get adopted by politicians who have no idea what they are doing, whose main goal is to try and change the narrative around #covid19 so that their failed response gets re-framed as a successful one. That’s not going to happen.
7/ I agree whole heartedly that the focus of the epidemic response must be on equity; it must be on providing the most vulnerable with the most resources and protections; & ultimately lockdowns are *not* a strategy but an emergency backdrop when the response itself has failed.
8/ But the options here are not #herdimmunity vs hardcore lockdowns— that’s a false dichotomy. Neither of those (IMO) are sustainable or true “strategies”— one is a disaster waiting to happen, & the other is what must be done to quickly stop transmission when it’s uncontrolled.
Cc @RanuDhillon @MoNscience @CarlosdelRio7 @ZekeEmanuel @CT_Bergstrom @IngridKatzMD @B_resnick @CarolineYLChen @apoorva_nyc
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Cc @sciencecohen @ReganHMarsh @cmyeaton @balajis @zeynep @edyong209 @mccabe_caitlin @acsifferlin @drdavidwalton @BillHanage @trvrb
Cc @gregggonsalves @thehowie @T_Inglesby @acsifferlin @LawrenceGostin @MMKavanagh @mlipsitch @sri_srikrishna @rvenkayya @venkmurthy @PeterHotez @PeterDrobac
Cc @ddiamond @germanrlopez @DFisman @BogochIsaac @Alison_Galvani @cshea4 @MikeMadden @elizabarclay @arishapiro @alikhan28 @RahulRajkumar11
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