For decades, governments have passed legislation & invested heavily in food safety, sanitation, & drinking water for public health. By contrast, airborne pathogens & respiratory infections are addressed weakly, if at all. 2/
Many governments enforce standards to reduce the health cost associated with poor OUTDOOR air quality, yet INDOOR air quality is a "regulatory no-man's land" 4/
Another great thing about airborne mitigations (high-quality, well-fitting masks; improved ventilation; air filters) is that they help fight ALL airborne illness, including colds, flus, & future covid variants (yes, there will be more variants) 6/
Many politicians understand the importance of good ventilation and upgrade their own workspaces (although tough luck to the children in their districts, who don't get the same consideration). 7/
I think @ToshiAkima is correct that Ventilation+ is better framing than Vaccination+
- will continue to be new variants
- even "mild" illness in vaccinated people can lead to LongCOVID
- waning immunity
- most people have not had 3 doses yet 9/
TIL there is a cholera vaccine, although the immunity it provides wanes significantly with time (85% protection in first 6 months, only 50% protection after 2 years) 10/
Focusing on vaccines ALONE:
- Does not work (many countries tried & failed)
- Hospitals can still collapse
- Sig # of vaxxed get LongCOVID
- Rooted in neoliberalism: individual responsibility as soln to collective problems
We need: vaccines + N95s + ventilation + air filters 1/
Vaccines alone are not enough. We saw this with Delta in UK, Israel, Denmark, & others that reopened w/out masks. Denmark had >90% vax rate for over 12s and here’s what happened with Delta. (for vax: 2x against delta may be like 3x against omicron) 2/
If you are 3x vaxxed, you should still care:
- Breakthroughs not rare
- Significant # of breakthroughs get LongCovid
- You may need functioning hospital system
- Many are ineligible for vax (kids) or can’t mount antibody response (eg cancer patients) 3/
Many leaders say people are fed up w/ restrictions, so we can’t try to do anything about Omicron:
- Premise questionable, as several polls show majority want mask mandates
- There is a TON government could do (but isn’t) that does NOT involve individual restrictions 1/
Things govt could do that are NOT individual restrictions:
Mail everyone free KF94s & rapid tests
Fund ventilation upgrades & air filters
Set indoor air quality standards
Paid support to isolate when sick
Public education: #LongCovid is hell
Public education: #COVIDisAirborne 2/
More things govt could do that are NOT individual restrictions:
Public education: KF94/N95 >>> cloth/surgical mask
CO2 monitors for all indoor spaces, results displayed clearly for all occupants to see
Replace all the "fight covid w/ hand-washing signs" 3/
CDC director says omicron cases doubling every 2 days, but provides no context & no indication that this is VERY BAD. Viewers would need to understand exponential growth, know current state of health care systems, and read between the lines to understand how serious this is 2/
Almost the entire interview is focused on getting vaxxed. She briefly mentions masks & hand-washing (still with the hand-washing) at the very end, but leaves general impression that everything is a-ok as long as you're vaxxed. 3/
I'm glad @jeremyphoward & I could get our 3rd dose today! However, vax alone isn't enough. We need:
- Govt funding for ventilation upgrades & air filters
- FREE N95s/KF94s & rapid tests for everyone
- public education: #COVIDisAirborne
- public education: #LongCovid is hell
@jeremyphoward Our vaccine clinic had @WHO signs on proper hand-sanitizer use. What we need are signs about MASKS:
WHICH ones: KF94/N95/FFP2 (everyone there except us had surgical or cloth masks)
HOW: many folks weren't covering noses
WHY: b/c #COVIDisAirborne & you do NOT want LongCovid
@jeremyphoward@WHO The "5 Ways to Fight an Airborne Virus" graphic would make for great messaging in a vaccine clinic (& everywhere). 2nd image here:
Algorithmic mechanism design (eg ad tech auctions such as Google, multi-sided platforms such as Uber) contains an inherent contradiction:
- theory of preserving autonomy & rationality of participants
- reality of opaquely generating & exploiting information asymmetries @jakusg 1/
The point of an auction is to incentivize truthful disclosures of preference & valuation; by contrast, Google, acting as an auction platform & multi-sided mechanism designer, is effectively profiling market actors so that it can extract more surplus for itself. 2/
In privately controlled & highly automated digital platforms, algorithmic market-like mechanisms simulate how a market might behave without necessarily including any of the features necessary to constitute a market, such as freedom to deal or knowable information rules. 3/