I’m on my last empathy leg. On my way to the hospital, stopped to get a bagel. An older man with his young granddaughter came in. Both unmasked. But that’s not what bothered me. (1/)
He was wearing a shirt that said “the most deadly virus in America is the media.” Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve had problems with how the media reports on-well-pretty much everything. (2/)
But I’m headed into the hospital where an ACTUAL virus is killing people. Where an actual virus is exhausting the healthcare work force. Where an actual virus is overwhelming our capacity to care for people (3/)
Ultimately, It’s fine to have your beliefs but come on people. I’m fucking exhausted after 20 months of this with no end in sight. Many of us in medicine and public health are doing our best to remain empathetic but my patience is wearing thin (4/)
So for now, I’ll head into the hospital. Do my job. Care for people who wear shirts that say stupid stuff like the guy above. But please know, random guy at the deli, your words and your actions convey a lack of respect for MY life even as I care about yours (end)
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It’s been a difficult week for anyone who cares about other humans. Might I suggest the list of “make the world better” activities that you can do right now? This is a bit of choose your own adventure 1/
1. Donate a little $ (if able) to help out afghan refugees, people affected by the criminalization of homelessness, or women in Texas losing their right to choose (2/)
2. Wear a mask if you go to a restaurant or grocery store just so others know it’s ok. Engage in respectful conversations with ppl who aren’t wearing one (3/)
It's not #COVID, but our new 🔥 study found that more than 280,000 people in the US who inject drugs will die of endocarditis in the next 10 years (>7.2 million years of potential life lost). @IDSA (thread 1/) academic.oup.com/cid/cid/advanc…
We developed a simulation model of injection drug use to project the long term prevalence of endocarditis, skin infections, and overdose--and interventions that might curb the syndemic (The REDUCE model) @NIDAnews@RWalensky (2/) @CHERISHresearch
We found that by 2030, one-third of the mortality will be due to overdose and 20% will be due to endocarditis. @The_BMC@felicejfreyer (3/)