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Rachel Thomas Profile picture
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11 Dec, 5 tweets, 3 min read
All the public health messaging I see is incorrectly based on droplet transmission (wash hands, keep 1.5m distance, clean surfaces, cover cough) with NO mention of masks, ventilation, air filters, #COVIDisAirborne 1/ Sign with Australian govern...Sign reading: unite against...Sign reading: Protect yours...Sign reading: covid-19 hygi...
My state is reopening borders tomorrow with NO masks. There are vaccine passports & a QR check-in app, but these are insufficient.

Vaccine passports don't account for breakthroughs, waning immunity, kids unvaxxed, & now Omicron. 2/
Check-in app is retrospective (eg after exposure), whereas ventilation & masks would be proactive (keep covid from spreading). Also, I suspect the check-in app is more effective for small outbreaks/when maintaining covid zero, and will be less useful once covid is widespread. 3/
The public deserves to know how covid spreads (and deserves to breathe uninfected air!), but many may be confused given widespread, misleading messaging. 4/
Here is an example of a more accurate sign #COVIDisAirborne 5/

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More from @math_rachel

Rachel Thomas Profile picture
14 Dec
How can we think about building systems not for individual end users, but for groups and communities? So much of computer science is limited by the assumption that there is an individual end-user who should be the benefactor of what we build.
- @marylgray keynote #NeurIPS2021 1/
ML gravitates to large scale data, even though it has rarely had a robust account of where that data comes from & under what conditions, and is almost always deeply disconnected from the social relationships that produced it. 2/
Data is power. Because data has become so powerful, we must transfer the tools of data collection, aggregation, & sharing from engineers to the communities in society that carry the risks. 3/
Read 9 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
14 Dec
22 months in, and I still can find more accurate info about Covid on Twitter than if I had to instead rely on articles in NYTimes by Monica Gandhi, New Yorker by Dhruv Khullar, etc, and official signs from my govt (all emphasize hand-washing) 1/
I went from giving keynote talks warning about disinformation (2019) to helping @jeremyphoward make multiple YouTube videos contradicting the CDC & WHO (#masks4all, starting March 2020), even though I believe trustworthy institutions are essential for combating disinfo. 2/
Our institutions failed: saying masks don’t work; denying covid airborne; failing to address #LongCovid; treating disabled & elderly as expendable; claiming pandemic over; wishful thinking as policy; overpromising vaccines definitely end pandemic; ignoring pre-symptomatic 3/
Read 25 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
7 Dec
There is widespread, well-documented ableism, racism, & unnecessary gatekeeping in STEM & medicine, and this is damaging our pandemic response in the West.

Pointing this out does not make you anti-science (I love science, but this is a huge problem). 1/
Disabled & chronically people have crucial expertise, and this expertise is being ignored 2/

Prominent health institutions were warned about the severe risk of post-viral illness BEFORE the pandemic 3/

Read 8 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
5 Dec
We can not fix public health until we reckon w/ how institutions have failed public’s trust (harmful advice, contradictory rules, overconfidence, disbelief of suffering patients). Patronizing "shut up & trust the experts" is not going to address this 1/
Some folks tell me experts gave the best advice known at the time, that nobody knew, that the evidence changed.

I need to share a few receipts. In March 2020, I publicly advocated for ordinary people to wear masks, at a time when CDC & WHO said not to 2/ Screenshot of tweet from @math_rachel Mar 29, 2020: Please rtweet from @math_rachel, Mar 29, 2020: Medical-grade masks stweet from @math_rachel, April 14, 2020. Excited about this screenshot of a youtube video. Image of Rachel and Jeremy.
In March 2020, I said young & healthy people should NOT assume they were safe from potential long-term impacts of covid. I shared historical review of flu pandemics leading to neurological problems. 3/ tweet from @math_rachel, March 12, 2020: This is something mtweet from @math_rachel: Mar 13, 2020: "For more than atweet from @math_rachel, Mar 13, 2020: Don't just assume tha
Read 7 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
3 Dec
A problem w telling people "just trust the medical experts" is that they still need enough time & scientific literacy to discern whether to trust "experts" promoting mass infection of kids, droplet transmission, & claims LongCovid is psychogenic, OR experts who say opposite 1/
(to be clear, do NOT trust the 1st group)

There seem to be ZERO professional consequences for repeatedly being wrong for last 22 months. Some folks in 1st group have prestigious credentials & platforms in major media outlets. General public may not know their track records 2/
So general public needs to invest a fair amount of time (which many do not have) just to know who to trust, what is true, & how to stay safe. At the same time, will be condescended to & criticized for disagreeing w/ "experts" 3/
Read 4 tweets
Rachel Thomas Profile picture
1 Dec
There has been more focus on whether the public trusts institutions (governments, medicine, public health orgs) than on how those institutions could better earn our trust. 1/

Western leaders have expressed confidence even when they were completely wrong, and have been unwilling to express uncertainty, even when it would have been more honest 2/

We've seen politicians upgrade parliament to have excellent air ventilation, as school children & essential workers are forced into poorly ventilated buildings with insufficient mitigations #COVIDisAirborne 3/

Read 14 tweets

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