Share this page!

Amy Maxmen, PhD Profile picture
Twitter logo
31 Dec 20, 11 tweets, 8 min read
I've reported on the ground from many epidemics, but this is the first one I'm really living through. A 🧵 of memories to follow...

For me, this got real when I met @HelenChuMD in Seattle on March 1 2020 -- Day Zero in the US. nature.com/articles/d4158…
That month, my stories documented my disbelief. How big was the underground US outbreak? nature.com/articles/d4158… Where was contact-tracing? nature.com/articles/d4158… And WTF! Labs had thousands of tests going unused because of a lack of a national strategy. nature.com/articles/d4158…
In contrast to the US, many low income countries were scaling up tests, building isolation centers, & enforcing quarantines BEFORE THEY EVEN HAD A HANDFUL OF CASES.

They don't have the luxury of relying on hospitals to care for floods of patients. nature.com/articles/d4158…
Before I leave the early days of the US pandemic, two ground-breaking pieces by incredible @rkhamsi were that Covid is way worse than flu (from Feb!) wired.com/story/coronavi… & that it is 'borne by air.'

She said controversial things, so responsibly.
wired.com/story/they-say…
April, Jim Kim @PIH: "We will probably get a vaccine against COVID, but we cannot stay in lockdown until that happens. The financial impact is going to be so devastating...The thing that will stop the financial crisis is getting the virus under control." nature.com/articles/d4158…
AND YET, everything stayed the same. Covid was disproportionately killing Black and Latinx communities.

@JamilSmith tied it together: "If we are to examine what and who killed George Floyd, we have to talk about racism, America’s pre-existing condition." rollingstone.com/politics/polit…
But the disappointments kept coming. California, my progressive state, permitted (permits) coronavirus to run rampant in prisons. Scientists told me about their visits to #SanQuentin, that they had offered free tests, only to be turned away. nature.com/articles/d4158…
Biosecurity researchers were as shocked as I to watch US failures. @T_Inglesby @TomBollyky @JenniferNuzzo @JeremyKonyndyk have spent their careers considering pandemics.

But perhaps this field thinks too much about science & not enough at governance.

nature.com/articles/d4158…
More! Why don't we know why COVID is surging? Because we don't collect data. I wrote about how public health data systems have eroded & how CDC reports are censored. nature.com/articles/d4158…

Later, @ddiamond @politico broke this disturbing news about CDC. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
It's been an honor to work alongside some of my favorite public health reporters, @JInterlandi @annabarryjester @DoctorYasmin @marynmck. This recent piece about the backlash against public health in the US is one of the most important I've read apnews.com/article/pandem…
But perhaps the piece that has haunted my thoughts most is this short "as told to" from a 64-year old man in a nursing home, by @elisaslow.

If you haven't read it, please do. In Jan 2021, I pray our government can get them this vaccine. washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12…

• • •

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

Keep Current with Amy Maxmen, PhD

Amy Maxmen, PhD 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

Amy Maxmen, PhD Profile picture
30 Dec 20
Incredible story behind the #Ebola drug "Ebanga" approved today by the FDA. fda.gov/drugs/drug-saf…

In 1995, Congolese Ebola discoverer @MTamfum treated Ebola patients with blood from survivors, despite being told not to by the CDC & WHO. 7 of 8 survived. nature.com/articles/d4158…
The NIH failed to replicate his findings in monkeys, but @MTamfum, "Professor Muyembe", didn't give up. “There should be a truth in here,” Muyembe told me.

He hired one of the survivors in his lab & convinced him to fly to the NIH in 2006, along with his sister & a grad student.
At the NIH, the student & other researchers isolated the survivors' antibodies. These antibodies became the basis for an experimental drug, mAB114, that @MTamfum pushed to test in the 2019 outbreak. It was HARD to conduct this trial. nature.com/articles/d4158…
Read 6 tweets
Amy Maxmen, PhD Profile picture
12 Nov 20
☹️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
Amy Maxmen, PhD Profile picture
11 Nov 20
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?
Read 9 tweets
Amy Maxmen, PhD Profile picture
26 Oct 20
✈️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
Amy Maxmen, PhD Profile picture
25 Oct 20
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
Amy Maxmen, PhD Profile picture
25 Aug 20
💥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

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!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @amymaxmen has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @amymaxmen!

Read all threads by @amymaxmen