Remember in Ebola all the discussion about needing to engage anthropologists to understand why African villagers would shun medical advice? Now we’ve got a much larger epidemic in our own country, but I hear no call to study the culture & mindset of those disregarding health recs
I’m going to mute this thread since it has rendered my phone unusable. Thanks for the engagement! Final thoughts: 1) All societies have sociocultural drivers, not just “others.” 2) Policy that ignores these are hamstrung at best & doomed to fail at worst. 1
3) Social scientists of all ilks (including historians, folklorists, etc) should be funded to help explain the drivers of health behaviors & to help craft targeted culturally-appropriate public health messages. 4) Diseases cannot be controlled with only biomedical knowledge. 2
#PublicHealth (& life) requires nuanced thought. If the recommendation is, “stay home,” that doesn’t mean stay inside your house if it catches on fire. As situations change, recommendations may change 1
In this case, it is the messaging that has changed, not the actual recommendation. When experts said stay home, they always acknowledged that not everyone could do so; the recommendation was *really* to stay home as much as possible, avoiding unnecessary contact with others 2
If you think your health, or the health of others, is more at risk from structural racism then COVID, then it is reasonable to prioritize addressing racism, even if that leads you to leave the house. Just take whatever precautions you can (mask, glasses, distance, don’t yell) 3
Thread: As a medical ethicist, let me remind everyone that there is never a wrong time to make sure your family and/or friends know your wishes should you become unable to make medical decisions. And, it is even more important than normal now, with a pandemic 1/
It is often uncomfortable to grapple with questions of what sorts of medical treatments a person may or may not want in different situations, because we don’t like thinking about our own mortality and because it is difficult to predict what sorts of issues could arise 2/
For example, I personally am not interested in a life of intractable pain. But, I would be willing to undergo non-stop pain for a period of time, if it will eventually be resolved and I can live painfree afterward. How long a period of time? I don’t know. 3/
My 2nd year of college, I arrived to start the year convinced I’d made a huge mistake. My best friends from first year were all living in a distant housing complex, while I had applied for a residential college where I knew nobody & would be rooming with a stranger 1
My parents drove me to college & helped me lug my possessions up multiple steep flights of steps. While we did so, my dread was increasing. I was filled with fear that I was going to spend a year miserable, living alongside 31 indifferent fellow students 2
And then! 4? 6? 8? I don’t remember the exact #, but a group of guys appeared, taking stuff out of my parents’ hands & carrying everything up to my room. As they left to go help another arrival, they yelled over their shoulders that they’d be back to get me around dinnertime 3