Many thanks to Jim @Acosta for hosting me in @CNNSitRoom describing our nation’s humanitarian catastrophe as #COVID19 deaths mounts. We need to do better halting surges on our ICUs that can overwhelm our healthcare heroes and mortality rates skyrocket
Highest reported COVID surges globally now in midsection of our nation, esp northern Midwest and West Texas + NM. 10/12 of worst affected states = red states where too often leaders bought into White House CoV TF disinformation campaign. With no one in charge I’m taking this on
I’m reaching out to every conservative news site that will listen. The message: No one has to die, we can save tens of thousands of lives, get them to the other side and get them vaccinated early next year
My motivation: in my decades of lecturing to universities in the middle of nation, some land grant or Morill Act of 1862, and now in Texas this past decade, I’ve met the kindest nicest people one could hope to meet. No one should lose their lives when vaccines around the corner
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Many thanks @Boris_Sanchez for hosting me on @CNNnewsroom this #Thanksgiving2020. How our nation acts in the coming weeks will determine if 500,000 Americans will lose their lives in the week or so after the inauguration vs 300,000 or somewhere in between
The only we can keep the deaths down is to halt surges on our hospitals and ICUs to give our healthcare heroes a fighting chance to save lives. The only way to halt surges is to prevent indoor gatherings, maximize social distancing, face masks for next 2-3 months before vaccines
Today I said re: #SCOTUS ruling: "This is not about our religious freedom or civil liberties. This is about all hands on deck to save lives until we get everybody vaccinated. Human life is not cheap. That #SupremeCourt ruling devalues lives."
1/3: Hitting herd immunity by May? It’s possible but 3 stars would have to align: 1) Widespread vaccination, our paper with @bruce_y_lee showed 70% coverage 2) OWS must shape implement communications plan, and then there’s 3) which so far no government agency or nonprofit will do
2/3: Shaping or promoting pro vaccine messages will get us only 30-40% of the way there. They = messages in bottles floating in the Atlantic Ocean, and tone deaf to antivaccine Antiscience empire now dominating the internet: I know this because I’m one of their lead targets
3/3: As the “OG Villain” as RFK Jr publicly names me, I point out >480 fake antivaccine websites, amplified on SM, e-commerce platforms, dedicated well funded antivaccine orgs funded by right wing extremist groups, wellness industry, also Russian “weaponized health communication
Been doing this the last few weekends, and I feel it's important to continue: I'm thinking tonight about our real American heroes: RNs LPNs PAs MDs DOs lab techs, respiratory techs, clerks, administrators, saving lives tonight in the Heartland ND SD WY IA ID MN and West Texas
As the Left and the Right spar, as Democrats and Republicans jockey for position, you respond as real Americans do, and say, "God blessed me with knowledge and abilities to save lives and she told me told me this is what I need to do right now"
And this is what you do, you kiss your loved ones goodbye, put on PPE, face masks, shields, and do what you trained for, as lives lost in our Heartland and West Texas, you are our last hope. Don't know what to say, except profound thank you. You inspire me, eternally grateful
I don’t claim to have the answers but ultimately it was the Antiscience disinformation campaign from the Russian Government, together with the Atlas-led WH CoV TF, Texas-led “health freedom” campaigns, and national groups that massively expanded the deaths from COVID19 in America
Their major vehicles were 480 Antiscience websites and Facebook, while Amazon was overwhelmingly the largest promoter of fake health freedom antivaccine and anti Covid books 📚. Some of it amplified by Murdoch media holdings
Unless we stop the nonsense and begin dismantling the Antiscience confederacy or empire, the deaths will mount, our nation will be further destabilized. I’m doing my best to speak to conservative news outlets, to save 150,000 additional Americans lives in Heartland + Texas by Feb
This is known as “weaponized health communication” its use on social media was first introduced by the Russian Government under Putin, but was later adopted by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, amplified by Scott Atlas, and now apparently Sen. Paul also finds it appealing
It has a consistent pattern since late spring: 1) downplay severity of the virus 🦠, 2) attribute #COVID19 hospitalizations or deaths to other causes, 3) fake concepts of herd immunity, 22% according to the Senator, 4) discredit masks, 5) spectacularize questionable RXs
Similar tactics adopted by Bolsanaro in Brazil 🇧🇷, Duterte in Philippines 🇵🇭, Ortega In Nicaragua 🇳🇮 and other ideologues, populist regimes
NEW TEXAS THREAD 1/12: Thought I would update on where I think we stand in #TexasCovid19.
Trigger Warning: Mostly it's bad news, but there is also some good news. The good news is that for the first time the bad news has brackets, but Nov-Feb will be rough for us
NEW TEXAS THREAD 2/12: Overall, sorry to say Texas leads the nation in COVID-19 cases. We would probably also lead the nation in COVID-19 deaths were it not for the March-April epidemic that hit New York after the virus entered from Europe in Jan-Feb
NEW TEXAS THREAD 3/12: We're now seeing a new and massive surge, number of new confirmed cases again hitting 10,000 as it did over the summer, except this time it's going to continue. Also now deaths starting to increase