1/ Kansas public health administrator from small town targeted & abused for telling people to wear masks; her own husband refused to mandate them in his store, got #covid19, gave it to her as well; her mother ended up getting it and died on a ventilator.

apnews.com/article/pandem…
2/ “Across the United States, state and local public health officials such as Coleman have found themselves at the center of a political storm as they combat the worst pandemic in a century.”

This will likely continue to be the biggest hindrance to stopping the epidemic IMO
3/ This targeting has been more than just public health administrators; practicing doctors are suffering as well. I have personally been targeted recently by right wing groups manipulating data (quite inelegantly at that) & information, leading to personal harassment. #covid19
4/ And remember that whether or not people believe in science, sick patients are still showing up to the hospital (some of them in that former group which changes quickly when you’re ill)— & we are still working despite being harassed. But healthcare workers are not unlimited
5/ We have been at this, albeit in waves, for 10 months. For many, incl myself, time away from clinical care when things slowed down was spent working on public health response. & we do this bc we are passionate- but navigating messy politics isn’t part of our clinical training
6/ With that being said- as a global health doctor, my informal training for 12+ years has been in figuring out how to work on the ground and get things done, despite political & social forces stacked against communities. And so, giving up isn’t part of the playbook here #covid19

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More from @AbraarKaran

13 Dec
1/ So important to acknowledge that when we tweet or share recommendations for how to stay safe or what to do at an individual level, these have drastically different implications based on our socioeconomic privileges. #covid19
2/ I’m sure everyone would love to “stay home”

I’m sure everyone would love to just order take out & have food delivered home

This isn’t the case.

And the patients we see are often the ones who can’t do either of those things #covid19
3/ So I can understand the frustration when onus is placed back on individuals over failing systems

But here too there is nuance. Our capitalism has led to stark inequities- where some portions of society do have $ protections & privilege of choice

And many don’t #covid19
Read 13 tweets
13 Dec
The fact that what is likely to be a fake Tony Fauci Twitter account @Fauci gained 57k followers within minutes tells you a lot about how vulnerable we are to misinformation, abuse of trust etc

A #Fauci account would be verified & wouldn’t have a @WHO link #covid19
2/ The fake #Fauci saga ends.

Please please please be careful out there folks.

Our ability to sort out truth from lies has never been more important. #covid19
3/ And I totally hear the comments saying that this also reflects how much people are looking for a credible, trusted voice — here’s to hoping the real Dr. Fauci comes to @Twitter #covid19
Read 4 tweets
11 Dec
THREAD

1/ New paper out in @JAMAInternalMed on evaluating different types of MASKS and their filtration efficiency in indoor settings for #covid19
2/ They used a particle generator that put out sodium chloride aerosol particles “slightly smaller” than a #SARSCOV2 virion; the environment was set to mimic typical indoor settings #covid19
3/ They measured the fitted filtration efficiency (FFE)- essentially by looking at the concentration of particles that got through the mask (using a sampling probe in the mask) vs the concentration in the air - total testing time of 3 minutes #covid19
Read 10 tweets
10 Dec
“Eating indoors at a restaurant is one of the riskiest things you can do in a pandemic,” she said. “Even if there is distancing, as this shows and other studies show, the distancing is not enough.” @linseymarr

latimes.com/world-nation/s…
2/ Diagram of airflow in a South Korean restaurant in which those who were sitting in the path of the air downstream from infected case got infected (incl more than 6 feet away)

Those facing away from the airflow did not

#covid19
3/ Thread below — just because something is open right now doesn’t mean it’s safe. High risk activities are high risk activities. Over 3,000 Americans died yesterday from this virus. #covid19
Read 7 tweets
9 Dec
1/ Trying to reconcile many thoughts but realizing they aren’t fundamentally at odds

Yes, we must avoid shaming each other- kindness is key

Yes, we all need more support from our governments/institutions

Yes, our personal actions do matter; they do make a difference

#covid19
2/ Recently wrote about stigma & why that kept some of my own friends from telling each other they had been exposed to #covid19

Shame is a losing strategy; it may transiently make us feel morally superior; it hurts others; it spreads more virus silently

bostonglobe.com/2020/11/30/opi…
3/ Wrote about fatigue @WBUR — it’s hurting all of us. We still need to believe even our seemingly small, insignificant choices do in fact matter. We won’t know if we avoided becoming the next super spreader- but we may have & that’s a big deal #covid19

wbur.org/cognoscenti/20…
Read 4 tweets
8 Dec
1/ Been saying this for a while, but I’m going to say it again. Do not indoor dine right now. Order takeout. Tip restaurants. Support businesses. But I would not be dining indoors. Last night, there were no ICU beds left at a hospital where I work in Boston. #COVID19
2/ Policies reflect many things— but they don’t always reflect what is safest from a health perspective. With exponentially rising cases, hospitalizations & deaths, high risk activities are high risk. Just because something is open doesn’t mean it is “safe”. #covid19
3/ Is this recommendation I am making fair to restaurants/ staff? What’s actually most unfair to them is that they are forced to remain open & send workers in high risk settings bc they aren’t receiving enough $ protections in a runaway pandemic.

#covid19
Read 6 tweets

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