Deeply honored to have won a @AAASKavli Gold Award for my feature @NatureNews

It is a profile of @Tedros & @WHO as they tackled #Ebola in DR Congo. It foreshadowed the COVID crisis in the US.

I’ll explain that here & lessons to learn. (Treat at end!)
go.nature.com/3khm1HT
Lesson 1: Epidemics depend on context. “The outbreak of Ebola is a symptom; the root cause is political instability,” said @Tedros.

Many places are unstable. DRC is very. Since 2017, in Kivu provinces alone, 3860 people have been killed & 5274 abducted. kivusecurity.org
Many governments, including DRC, ignore or fuel conflict & poverty in east DRC. When the president barred eastern cities from voting “due to Ebola” the link between politics& the virus hardened. Next came attacks.

Does politicization of a virus in an election yr sound familiar?
Lesson 2: Mistrust results in avoidance of ‘health authorities'. To gain trust, the wisest Ebola responders used ⭐️conversations⭐️

They tried to see the world from the perspective of the people they wanted to help.
For example: Here’s @SoceFallBirima listening to complaints from angry motorcyclists who have blocked the road in protest.

Here is @AnokoJulienne visiting communities deep in the forest, rightfully suspicious of outsiders. Ebola discoverer @MTamfum frequently speaks at churches
Conversations are hard! They don’t turn a profit for tech companies or branding agencies. But ads & posters aren't enough.

I see many people in parts of Brooklyn not wearing masks in shops. Fines would be cruel w/poverty rising.

Where is outreach, empathy & support in the US?
Thanks @WHO for dedication in DRC & transparency. @Tedros is pushing for universal healthcare. Without it, we won’t detect emerging epidemics quickly. Without it, SO many people die from preventable causes. Without it, communities mistrust ‘health authority.’

PS #BlackinSTEM Dr. Tedros and the WHO in Katwa, DRC.
Massive thanks to the photographer who traveled w/me & took gorgeous photos @wesselsjohn1 (pictured at a checkpoint waving); my editors at Nature @bmaher @lmorello; and @pulitzercenter, which has consistently supported my need to report on the ground and not at the desk.
Thanks for coming to my Twitter talk. I’ll end the way I ended my trip to DRC, with a trip to see bonobos. Thanks again to @AAASKavli & hurray for my talented colleagues listed here. Check out their work! sjawards.aaas.org/news/2020-aaas…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Amy Maxmen

Amy Maxmen Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @amymaxmen

12 Nov
☹️One of the most upsetting CDC reports yet: Wedding leads to 177 Covid cases & 7 deaths among people who weren’t even there.

Aug 7. Wedding w/55 guests in a Maine town with no corona.

A guest goes to a school meeting. Others go to jobs at a nursing home & jail, with symptoms.
Wedding screened for fever but guests don’t wear masks indoors. Wedding hosts don’t give health dept a list of phone # of guests. So contact tracing isn’t fast enough to stop spread.

After 23 days health dept determines that 30 of 55 guests were positive. By then it’s too late.
Because of the wedding:
-120 staff & residents of a care facility & correctional facility were infected & scared & may have long term health issues.

-27 people not at the wedding +

-2 people who served wedding guests got Covid

-Many mourn the early deaths of 7 loved ones.
Read 5 tweets
26 Oct
✈️NEW flight report on corona transmission on flights:

13 people appear to have been infected on a 7-hr flight to Ireland this summer, leading to 59 cases as passengers visited friends & family. The plane was at 17% capacity & required masks.

eurosurveillance.org/content/10.280…
Why do researchers think infection occured in ✈️?
-5 show symptoms w/in 4 days of flight & have no other exposure; 8 could have gotten it during layover but seat map suggests in-flight
-Sequencing finds that the virus is 99% similar despite travelers coming from diff continents.
Impressive contact tracing made this possible. European CDC has a guidance to alert all flight passengers when there is a positive case on board. Perhaps @CDCgov might consider such a thing given that people will be traveling during the holidays, and staying with loved ones.
Read 4 tweets
25 Oct
Psst: It is your civic duty to watch "Totally Under Control." We must hold leaders accountable.

I've interviewed some of the scientists in the film & dozens more this year. Here are my thoughts after viewing @undercontrolmov from @alexgibneyfilm. 🧵

Spot-on portrayal of how the CDC & FDA stood in the way of testing in Feb @undercontrolmov, including @RickABright asking Azar for 10 billion to ramp up testing & drug/vaccine R&D around Jan 20. He’s later told that was an offensive ask.

But...
But the big question remains unanswered: Who at the CDC/FDA/HHS said DON'T push hard on testing?

Tho @RickABright says Kadlec told him there was “no reason for concern” in Jan & @scottjbecker @APHL admits it was hubris to not use the German test vetted & distributed by WHO.
Read 10 tweets
25 Aug
💥My latest investigation: Where is #COVID data?

With 5.7 million cases in the US, we should have a good sense of how often people are infected in grocery stores, on planes, at protests, on construction sites.

Some countries post such data. Why don't we?nature.com/articles/d4158…
Data on #Covid transmission is critical as people socialize & schools & businesses open.

eg in #NewZealand, the country's daily dashboard suggests people get tested if they went to locations linked w/current outbreaks. health.govt.nz/our-work/disea… Screenshot from today
The daily dashboard from the @KoreaCDC reveals that 50 people from a 915-person #COVID outbreak at Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul have left for other districts; that 22 venues, listed, have since had transmission that traces back to that outbreak & MUCH MORE
Read 7 tweets
4 Aug
🚨Biosecurity experts ran dozens of pandemic war-games to prep for this crisis.

My NEW feature w/@jefftollef asks what went wrong.

They depicted #coronavirus, leaky travel bans, PPE shortages, vaccine scrambles, battles btwn leaders. But not Trump. nature.com/articles/d4158…
We spoke with researchers who ran simulations like Dark Winter, Atlantic Storm, Crimson Contagion, Clade X, Event 201. They foresaw a lot of problems happening now. But most thought we were better than anywhere else because of technological capacity, medical & science excellence.
As a long-time government researcher told me: "You need gas in the engine and the brakes to work, but if the driver doesn't want to use the car, you're not going anywhere." nature.com/articles/d4158…
Read 6 tweets
21 Jul
I spent months in SierraLeone during the biggest #Ebola outbreak in history & I've just caught up with doctors I met who are now fighting #coronavirus. Lots of interesting comparisons to that outbreak -- and to the USA -- in my latest piece @NatureNews. nature.com/articles/d4158…
Some African researchers I talked w/were surprised that the CDC—so helpful during #Ebola—seems sorta powerless in the US. “I was shocked to see the US struggling to understand what contact tracing is, to organize a response, to put in place risk communication,” said @NyenswahG.
Another twist is that because many cases are mild or asymptomatic due to the young population in Liberia, SierraLeone & Guinea (3% of people >65), a lot of people might be taking this less seriously than public health authorities wish. (Btw this photo is worth 1000 words.)
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!