COVID Update January 14: My last nightly thread for a while.

What I want to say is it’s not time for despair. It’s time to fix things and move our country forward. 1/
There was a point in time in this pandemic when we didn’t know up from down.

There was a time when people in charge were describing up as down. 2/
We’ve seen the worst of the worst. We’ve been through hell and we’re not done. We’ve lost things that can’t be regained. We alternate between fear, anger, loss of hope, and occasional real glimpses of life.

But we are surviving and we are remembering. 3/
Extraordinary people are out there. In labs, holding hands w our loved ones, volunteering. And I choose to think of them & all of you when I think of this country.

Not those waving the flag, but those who live its values and try to make us better. 4/
Yes there is ignorance and hate and indifference and selfishness. There always has been and there always will be. But they can’t set our agenda or determine our course. Not for long anyway. 5/
Having a President who cares and who is committed and is not scared and does not take everything personally will be a chance we haven’t had in a while. 6/
The virus is not ready to compromise. And as much as it is known to us, it still has surprises in store.

But it can be defeated. By science. Made easier by leadership and experience. And yet still requiring unity, sacrifice, and patience. 7/
The less unity, sacrifice and patience we have left in us, the more will fall on our front line workers, our essential workers, and people living where there’s no escape.

But I have learned we all have untapped wells of resilience we never knew about. And I think we still do.8/
Our tougher generations have been through depressions, oppression, fighting for the right to vote, to marry, to have autonomy over our own bodies. We won world wars. We know how to triumph. 9/
2021 can be an extraordinary year if we make it so. Setbacks and hard work but little by little, step by step, it’s time we defeat this.

With better leadership, the country will have an opportunity to decide how quickly and how aggressively to support progress. 10/
I’m thinking about the people who haven’t been able to leave your house for months and months.

We need to do this for you. 11/
I’m thinking about my exhausted nurse and doctor friends. People protecting patients and the elderly.

We need to do this for you. 12/
I think of seniors who’ve led a good life and are being abandoned.

We need to do this for you. 13/
I think about people lonely and sad. About people in farm labor camps, imprisoned, crowded, forced to work with the public every day. 14/
People who’ve lost loved ones, who miss loved ones, who have done their best to not put others at risk and don’t know how they will do it another day but they do. 15/
I can’t believe all the people who have lost small businesses and low paying jobs and how well big businesses have done and those with high paying jobs. We must fix ourselves as much as we must fix this. 16/
I’m not discouraged, I’m not hopeless, I’m not frustrated. I’m not tired. I’m not done. I also won’t be out of touch so stay tuned here.

I’m ready to do whatever I can. 17/
Please consider attaching a photo & a sentence of who or what you are hopeful about, determined for, want to remember, or inspire you. The people, the faces, the hopes that keep you going and fighting.

I will stare at them in tough moments. Godspeed. /end
For people leaving messages asking if I’m taking a break, see announcement tomorrow. Or check Google.

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More from @ASlavitt

14 Jan
COVID Update January 13: I have been asked one question over and over by the press, states, hospitals & others: what’s the first thing you expect to be different with Biden as president?

My answer: getting the truth. 1/
We are a week from the results of what happens when the country is stoked with lies. Those lies cause people to behave irresponsibly as they did attacking a false election claim. 2/
The same exact thing is true with the pandemic. We are dealing with the effects of lies.

Why not enough tests? Why caught flat footed? Why are people under-reacting?

Because they are living in a world full of lies. 3/
Read 20 tweets
13 Jan
COVID Update January 12: We can’t save lives when we’re too busy with the circus. 1/
For the last several days, in the midst of a month with more American deaths than any other, you can’t find mention of COVID on cable TV. 2/
Nary a chiron with a death toll counter. Despite the sincere shock & sadness that many feel, after 10 months, it’s the least shocking news. 3/
Read 17 tweets
12 Jan
On a plane with a passenger confrontation. Man not wearing a mask.
Bandana around the neck. He’s been asked to pull it up but pulled it down right away when flight attendant left.
Flight attendant came over to tell me the mask will be up or he will be out.

The flight lead’s mom just died.
Read 7 tweets
9 Jan
COVID Update January 8: Words I have learned to never say again: "It can never happen in this country."

It can if we let it. 1/
A devastating public health emergency-- never.
An racist, nationalist, fascist president-- not us.
A coup attempt-- not in the US.
Indifference at the death of hundreds of thousands-- not here. 2/
Viruses are for Africa and Asia; nationalist candidates are in France; Coup attempts South America. You know, only the shithole countries. 3/
Read 21 tweets
8 Jan
COVID Update January 7: We have become the virus country. Of hate, of racism, of denial, of enablers.
They didn’t show up yesterday.

The odds we face in COVID & in our country are often long, but only because we make them long. 1/
Yesterday was despite what I heard from many not a particularly special day in the legacy of the Trump Administration. It was just televised and wearing a t-shirt. 2/
If you’re telling the country that people aren’t dying when they are— or that they are but there’s nothing you can do about it, or separating small children from their parents...breaking windows in the US Capitol isn’t your worst day. 3/
Read 20 tweets
5 Jan
COVID Update January 4: I talkedvto 15 scientists, including Anthony Fauci, @larrybrilliant, @EricTopol, @ashishkjha, @T_Inglesby & @DrLeanaWen & asked them to spell out how 2021 will play out.

I will release their answer Wednesday. But the answer depends heavily on Tuesday.1/
The Senate elections in Georgia have a lot to say about whether we will successfully combat COVID-19.

I'm not talking about my own personal or political feelings. I'm talking about a cut & dry analysis of our ability to fight off a life threatening menace.2/
Trump's assault on our response to the pandemic is gratefully, almost over. Last embarrassing, corrupt efforts aside, the Trump/Meadows/Atlas deniers & liars are soon gone.

But his enablers remain at large. Now would be a good time to make a change. 3/
Read 16 tweets

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