FLASH
#SCOTUS hands down its ruling on #Biden admin #COVID19 safety mandates, and it's classic anti-Federalist "law" that could open the floodgates on all public health efforts. The majority of Justices ruled that Biden can mandate #vaccination and/or masking in...
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2/ healthcare facilities that receive fedl $ (#Medicare & #Medicaid), BUT can NOT issue mandates in the private sector. Specifically, #SCOTUS blocked #Biden reg that employers w/100+ workers require either 💉 or 😷 of all staff.
Majority opinion:
“Although #Congress ..."
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3/
"...has indisputably given #OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly. Requiring the #vaccination of 84M Americans, selected simply because they work for employers with more..."
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4/
"...than 100 employees, certainly falls in the latter category."
If the federal leadership cannot legally require interventions in a declared national public health emergency, so that there's NO national strategy for tackling a disease, what else might crumble?
Child vax?
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5/
Attacking Federalism as a principle to tear down national public health leadership, leaving each State to do as it wishes, could not only undermine a long list of @CDCgov @HHSGov activities, but open up attack on fedl anti-pollution, food & water safety, smog control.
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6/
It's only been minutes since #SCOTUS ruling came down, not a lot of time to reflect, but at this moment the ramifications of the decision for national public health and safety efforts seem to me to be devastating.
We await analysis from wise legal experts.
@rgoodlaw @tribelaw

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More from @Laurie_Garrett

13 Jan
Reaction to #SCOTUS decision from @POTUS #JoeBiden
"As a result of the Court’s decision, it is now up to States & individual employers to determine whether to make their workplaces as safe as possible for employees, & whether their businesses will be safe for consumers..."
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2/
"...during this #pandemic by requiring employees to take the simple & effective step of getting #vaccinated . The Court has ruled that my administration cannot use the authority granted to it by Congress to require this measure, but that does not stop me from..."
MORE
3/
"...using my voice as President to advocate for employers to do the right thing to protect Americans’ health & economy. I call on business leaders to immediately join those who have already stepped up – including 1/3 of Fortune 100 companies – & institute #vaccination .."
MORE
Read 5 tweets
13 Jan
Mundane life in NYC as #Omicron rages:
- subways are shutting down all over the place because too many @MTA workers are home sick
- a snow "bomb cyclone" is forecast for Sunday & nobody's sure there will be enough snow plow operators to clear streets
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nytimes.com/2021/12/29/nyr…
2/
- so many @FDNY and EMT personnel are out sick that response teams are down 30% & 911 operators say please don't call unless it really, really is an ER
- wind chill on Saturday will be 13 F -- cancel that safe outdoor dinner date
MORE
nytimes.com/2022/01/06/nyr…
3/
- you bought tickets to concerts, plays months ago: now check daily to see which are cancelled, or resched
- friends ask if it makes sense to book a wedding/bar mitzvah/graduation party in May, or June, even July
- temp falls below 30 & you find K95 masks keep the face warm
Read 5 tweets
10 Jan
Let's compare NYC & Hong Kong #COVID19 experiences.

NYC population = 8.4 million; HK = 7.5M.
NYC is averaging >40K cases/day, totaling nearly 2M since Jan2020, with 35,883 deaths.
HK has had zero-to-7 daily COVID cases over last 8 mos, 12K since Jan2020 w/200 deaths.
MORE Image
2/ What's the difference?

HK has strict border controls, testing, tracing and mandatory quarantines in hotels & detention centers, under observation, with jail for violators.
NYC, like rest of USA, has near-nil track/trace/test/quarantine in use. NY "control" - persuasion.
MORE Image
3/ Of course, China shut the border with HK, sealing the City off from Mainland. And over last 2 yrs PRC has imposed a police state on HK. People have no choice but to obey mask, vaccine, quarantine laws.
But, most vaccination is with lousy Sinopharm & Sinovac which offer...
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Read 5 tweets
5 Jan
I strongly disagree. From a public health point-of-sale view the primary purpose of a #vaccine is to prevent infection and transmission. Clinically, it may be great to block disease, too. Goes to famed Salk vs Sabin debate on polio vaccines.
There are longstanding debates about use of the Salk (IPV) vs Sabin (oral) polio vaccine, for reasons explained well here by @profvrr :
virology.ws/2015/09/10/why…
But back in the 1960s Salk & Sabin debated which of their vaccines better blocked fecal transmission.
MORE
With improved sanitation & clean drinking water polio spread is greatly reduced. But could both viruses cut not just disease in individuals, but also environmental contamination via feces? pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6262150/
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Read 8 tweets
4 Jan
Gulp.
"The United States is headed for civil war & it cannot bear to face it. The political problems are both structural & immediate...The American political system has become so overwhelmed by anger that even the most basic tasks of govt are impossible."
theguardian.com/world/2022/jan…
2/ "The Capitol police have seen threats against members of #Congress ^ by 107%. Fred Upton, #Republican rep from Michigan, shared a message he had received: 'I hope you die. I hope everybody in your family dies.' And it’s not just politicians but anyone involved..."
MORE
3/ "...in the running of the electoral system. Death threats have become a std aspect of the work life of election supervisors & school board membs. A third of poll workers said they felt unsafe."
I'd add that Public Health officials are resigning due to death threats.
Read 4 tweets
25 Dec 21
We watched "Don't Look Up" last night -- dumb movie, but convinced me not to hold back inconvenient truths.
So here goes.
#Greenland The Danish Meteorological Institute says huge warming there is linked to #ClimateChange .
How much "warming?"
MORE
2/
- The capital Nuuk hit 55 F this week -- average temp for this time = 22.5 F
- Further north in Qaanaaq temp topped 46 F -- normal is -4.2 F.
70% of Earth's freshwater is frozen, and #Greenland is the 2nd largest block of ice after #Antarctica. If it were to fully melt...
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3/
...world sea levels would rise 23 feet. climate.nasa.gov/faq/30/if-all-…
That would obliterate the homes, schools, workplaces of >10% of the U.S. population. climate.gov/news-features/…
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Read 5 tweets

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