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Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA Profile picture
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1 Apr, 5 tweets, 2 min read
1/ My father came to the US from India in 1972. He changed his last name to his caste name because it was easier for Americans to pronounce. And yet, Americans still find a way to get it wrong... throwing in extra letters, etc. Names matter. They’re us. newyorker.com/culture/person…
2/ We shouldn't have to change our names because other people can't be bothered to learn how to pronounce our names or to "avoid the shame of the American gaze." We can't let people ruin our names for us.
3/ "My earliest memories of school include the tension of roll call, when I would try to volunteer my name to stop the teacher from attempting a pronunciation."

💯 identify with this experience.
4/ "Yet, all my life, America has told me that I'm overreacting. That it is still OK to laugh at Asian names."
"...the joke is more important than our existence."
5/ 50 years after my dad came to the US, I now find myself criticized for using our family's caste name, the name he adopted to better fit in after coming to the US. My name is me, my family's story, and my story.

"Names are deeply personal and deeply public."
-@bichminhnguyen

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More from @celinegounder

Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA Profile picture
2 Apr
1/ To be clear... I've only moved from being firmly against delaying 2nd doses to reconsidering / being on the fence.
statnews.com/2021/04/02/dem… -@levfacher Image
2/ As a scientist, I think it's really important to reevaluate your conclusions as more data comes in.

Models help us think through and weigh different scenarios, but are not the same as empirical evidence.
3/ This model finds that the strength of vaccine neutralizing antibody responses may be less critical than slowing the rate of viral transmission in preventing the emergence of mutant variants.
nature.com/articles/s4157…
Read 7 tweets
Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA Profile picture
29 Mar
1/ In the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, my team at justhumanproductions.org and I produced season 3 of the @AmericanDxFM podcast: 36-episodes on gun violence in America.

Here are some important lessons that the media seems still not to have learned:
2/ We spend too much time focused on the shooter and not enough on the victims. Shooters want notoriety. We should never name them. justhumanproductions.org/podcasts/e25-g…
3/ The media focuses too much on the perpetrator's motive and not enough on evidence-based solutions.
nytimes.com/2021/03/27/bus…
Read 8 tweets
Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA Profile picture
29 Mar
1/ Lesson #1 from the coronavirus pandemic:

Do NOT politicize a public health crisis.
Politicians need to get out of the way & let public health workers, doctors, nurses & scientists do their jobs & lead the response.
This applies to ALL politicians.
2/
Politicization can cut both ways.
The harms of politicization are not unique to any political party.
Republicans now say they fear the pandemic was weaponized against them and are uncertain whether they want to be vaccinated.
That fear harms us all.
3/
When people don't trust public health, they don't follow public health guidance (e.g. masking, social distancing, vaccination).
If people don't follow public health guidance, it will take that much longer to get back to life and recover from the pandemic.
Read 4 tweets
Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA Profile picture
25 Mar
1/ We can't underestimate SARS-CoV-2.
We've been wrong time and again. science.sciencemag.org/content/371/65…
- Viruses evolve through mutation PLUS natural selection
- When the virus replicates, it mutates.
- The more people the virus infects, the more it replicates, the more it mutates.
2/ Natural selection favors traits that allow the virus to
- replicate better
- transmit better
- and evade our immune systems better.
3/ So it makes sense that the mutant COVID variants are more infectious (e.g. B.1.1.7, B.1.526), more virulent (B.1.1.7), or evade immune responses to natural infection (e.g. B.1.351, P.1).
Read 8 tweets
Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA Profile picture
25 Mar
1/ Pregnant and breastfeeding women have a robust responses to the Pfizer & Moderna COVID vaccines and pass the immunity on to their babies:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33758889/
2/ Importantly vaccinated women pass on much higher levels of protective antibodies to their fetus or newborn than do women who've had COVID.
3/ As with influenza, pregnant women are at higher risk for severe disease when they get COVID. Women are also at higher risk for pre-term birthif they get COVID while pregnant.
Read 6 tweets
Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA Profile picture
18 Mar
1/ On February 15th, Drs. @RickABright @brosseau_lisa @drlynngoldman @jljcolorado Yoshihiro Kawaoka @linseymarr @drdavidmichaels @Don_Milton @mtosterholm @kprather88 Chip Schooley and Peg Seminario sent this letter to the WH/CDC/NIH:
cidrap.umn.edu/sites/default/…
2/ The CDC has yet to follow the science and fully recognize that SARS-CoV-2 is an airborne virus.
The CDC has yet to recommend appropriate protections to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in high-risk workplaces.
Note that airborne DOES NOT EQUAL freak out.
3/ Airborne means we focus on preventing spread through the air. This means that masks and ventilation are crucial in preventing the spread of COVID.
Read 16 tweets

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