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13 Apr, 6 tweets, 2 min read
I wrote about how we're entering the full zombie phase of "hygiene theater"
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

Evidence for surface transmission of COVID-19 is truly pathetic. But unlike the actual coronavirus, performative cleaning rituals are very much alive on surfaces across America.
The surface-transmission theory of COVID-19 is basically dead. But hygiene theater lives:

- on subways
- in schools
- in stores
- in offices
- and ... sigh ... at The Atlantic
I want to directly address this point because I think it represents a plausible-sounding but probably wrong objection to my hygiene theater critiques.

The objection is basically: Hey but isn't hygiene theater actually, you know, pretty hygienic?
It's quite possible that ALMOST ALL respiratory viruses mostly spread through the air—including rhinovirus (lots of common colds) and the flu.

That means the best way to avoid getting sick isn't power-washing strategies, but ventilation strategies. Think windows over Windex.
The goal is to stay healthy without losing our minds.

If you describe an aerosolized virus as being “on your vegetables, on the floor, on your clothes, on your face, and maybe also in the air" you will be less strategic and hygienic—and also, you may lose your mind.
in conclusion

- washing your hands: good
- wiping down carts at trader joe's: sure, whatever
- clean-desk mandates in offices: getting weird
- school + subway closures for power-scrubs: actually bad
- banning outdoor activities to "take the virus seriously": fully insane

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Derek Thompson Profile picture
11 Apr
I'm mildly obsessed with the question of whether the decline of organized religion has ironically pushed religious thinking into every other nook and cranny of "secular" life

nytimes.com/2021/04/10/opi…

No surprise that @DouthatNYT has smart things to say on it
To the extent that there's a sort of god gene that must do *some* work for secular ppl, I buy the case that organized religion has partly dissolved into:

1. non-organized spirituality (wellness, meditation, astrology)

2. quasi-religious political movements (you know the type)
(Don't take "god gene" literally. That's I'm-running-out-of-Twitter-characters shorthand for "assuming without evidence that even religiously unaffiliated groups have a sort of baseline level of non-rational spirituality, and that energy has to flow somewhere, where does it go?")
Read 4 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
1 Apr
So, I wrote about Alex Berenson.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Berenson says lot of confused and concern-trolly things about vaccines. Via email, I asked him to lay out his case for vaccine skepticism.

He replied.

Then I shared his claims with scientists.

They called his theories “absolutely stupid,” “simple fear-mongering,” and “bogus.”
Berenson's claims about the immune system show either a total misunderstanding or deliberate misrepresentation of normal immune-system behavior.
Read 10 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
29 Mar
I wrote about how mRNA technology could change the world

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

Here are 5 favorite details from the piece
1. How the failures of HIV-vaccine efforts ironically accelerated the development of the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and J&J vaccines.

When HIV-vax researchers realized that established methods weren't working, they pushed into wacky areas like … synthetic mRNA.
2. How BioNTech, Pfizer's partner, plans to use what it learned from the COVID vaccines to accelerate its efforts to design individualized cancer therapies by targeting the proteins associated with specific tumors
Read 7 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
26 Mar
Before my Florida piece, I spoke to many people who were astonished by the mask-wearing diff between northeast metros and Florida.

After it published, I've heard from a lot of FL ppl who say their communities take masks and distancing v seriously despite the governor's approach.
At least 2 lessons here.

1. Florida is a big place.

2. One answer to the Florida mystery—how did it have only avg mortality in an "open"ish economy with so many old people?—is that the public, and seniors in particular, used masks and distancing far more than DeSantis insisted.
Florida is being held up, by some, as proof that masks and distancing don't work, or are dramatically overrated.

One reason I think that's wrong is their impression of Florida's mask/distancing protocols is a caricature of the state's actual behavior.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Read 4 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
24 Mar
I talked to Princeton sociologist @patrick_sharkey about America's crime surge.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

It's not just the mass shootings. 2020 had the most gun deaths of any year in US history and was, on a per capita basis, the most violent year of this century. Why?
If you have a deep need for single-cause answers to complicated questions, definitely don't read this story, or any other story, about why crime rises and falls. There are things we know for sure about this surge of violence—and then there's a tug-of-war over interpretation
So, what we know. Violent crime surged by its highest rate in many decades to its highest level in many decades. Fatal shootings rose more than 40% in several cities, including

Madison: 60%
Sacramento: 51%
Milwaukee: 47%
Atlanta: 46%
New York: 44%
Minneapolis: 43%
Boston: 41%
Read 7 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
23 Mar
Everybody is wrong about Florida

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
1. Liberals and a lot of public health experts were wrong:

They predicted COVID would specially ravage FL, given its YOLO policies and elderly population. But the state is still officially reporting fewer deaths-per-million than the national average and nearby states.
2. Conservatives are wrong:

There is a lot of chest-beating about how the Florida economy is kicking ass. But as far as I can tell, its economic performance is—kind of like its pandemic performance—much more *average* than the national narrative would make you think.
Read 6 tweets

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