Thread by @Craig_A_Spencer

On March 12 as #COVID19 was starting to hit NYC, I wrote a short piece for a show that was cancelled because of the pandemic.

On the eve of an election defined by our response to #COVID19, I want to share what I wrote then to reflect on what we learned, and what we didn't...

"As we watch this pandemic spread, I keep coming back to that empathy I so painfully learned taking care of Ebola patients in West Africa and as an Ebola patient myself, lying in a NYC hospital bed.

I think of it every day now as coronavirus spreads through our communities..."

"...disrupting our social fabric and leaving many to wonder what comes next.

"In times of crisis, we naturally tend to think inward, reflecting on how we protect ourselves. But what we need right now is a focus on the most vulnerable amongst us."

"As this virus spreads and the uncertainty continues to unfold, we need to focus on the communities that are so often marginalized in times of crisis."

"We need to consider our elderly neighbors and those in nursing and residential homes, already at higher risk from the virus."

"We need to put aside our politics and recognize that indigenous and undocumented communities here in the US are at a substantial risk."

"We will only survive this crisis if we recognize our shared humanity, not our different origins."

"The months ahead will be tough. At times we will reflexively look inwards, thinking about the threat this virus poses to us and the ones we love."

"But I survived Ebola and walked out of the hospital intent on sharing my story of empathy, learned the hardest way imaginable.

"I hope that when we look back on this pandemic, we reflect on how we survived it by emphasizing our shared humanity and focusing on the most vulnerable amongst us."

"Because together is the the only way we'll get through this."

I wrote this early on when this virus wasn't as politicized as it is today.

This was when there was hope that we'd take the necessary steps to get this virus under control.

When we talked about coming together to combat #COVID19, not letting it tear us apart.

When our medical and public health professionals weren't viewed with such scorn and suspicion.

Reflecting back, I wish I could say that we weathered the storm well. That we came together to fight this virus and that we succeeded.

But everyone knows that's not the case.

Regardless of who wins this election, COVID19 will continue to spread across this country in the coming weeks and months.

Cases and hospitalizations have been rapidly rising, and the worst is still in front of us.

Like many of my colleagues, I'm worried about this winter.

And look, we've all made missteps throughout this pandemic.

Healthcare providers who rushed to put severely hypoxic patients on ventilators, later recognizing there might be a better way.

Public health professionals who circled the wagons and equivocated on best guidance.

But it's hard to ignore the abject failures that have defined this administration's response to COVID19.

The constant unwillingness to correct course.

The unrelenting denigration of science and scientists.

The repudiation of a sound public health policy to guide our response.

Looking back on what I wrote in early March, as this virus was starting to take hold in the US, I guess I'm so unsettled that this is where we find ourselves, on the eve of an election.

It's almost unbelievable that we aren't in a better place, and better positioned to respond.

Like many of my colleagues, I constantly feel dejected fighting against an administration that should be working with us.

If you made it this far, the only thing you need to know is:

Science and public health is on the ballot on November 3rd.