Thread by @daniela127

This afternoon, I was contacted by a producer at a network news show asking if I wanted to be interviewed about "the new CDC school and mask guidance." I readily agreed. 🧵

Before we get any further I want to make my point upfront: the media has a story to sell, and the story is not "everything is ok and will continue to be ok." The story that sells is one of fear and panic.

Back to my story: I spoke about how my biggest concern about the upcoming school year was that it would be a 3rd year of disrupted school. That what kids needed was normalcy, and that in our post-vaccine world a return to normalcy was not only possible, but also necessary.

The producer asked if I was afraid of my my kids getting covid and I told her that both kids were at camp right now, and statistically I should be more concerned about them swimming in a pool than going to school.

I also gave specifics about NYC - how we had no plan to accommodate all kids, no quarantine or classroom closure policy, nothing. I said we are setting ourselves up for failure and chaos when what our kids needed was normalcy.

I was excited about my interview and told my biggest fans (my parents and siblings) to watch. I parked myself in front of the TV with my husband and kids to watch.

I'm used to giving interviews and I know that out of a 20 min interview you'll get a 30 second soundbite, so I was interested in what soundbite the producer selected.

It was awful. My clip completely misrepresented everything I said. And the segment was nothing more than fear mongering. It made the case that summer camps were unsafe and that school couldn't reopen safely in Sept. I'm ashamed that I appeared in it.

Here's the clip. It is so irresponsible and @LesterHoltNBC and @NBCNightlyNews should be ashamed for spreading this type of misinformation, especially now that we know how awful remote "instruction" is and how safe schools have been over the past year. nbcnews.com/nightly-news/v…

We have 3 life saving, miraculous vaccines. We should be thankful we were able to develop them and get them to everyone who wants one so quickly. We are now in a post-pandemic world, and we need to act like it. Enough with the fear mongering. It's time to move on.