Thread by @Helenreflects

A potential pandemic waiting to happen is apparently worse than the actual one that we're living through and that killed, in the US alone yesterday (checks) 2969 people.

I did read the article. I am not unsympathetic to some points the authors make (namely, China's zero-covid policy doesn't have a clear game plan especially as it rages elsewhere). But, notice that this article sets up the same defeatist language I've been seeing elsewhere 2/

viz. "the coronavirus is not going to disappear — the world will have to live with it". Here, you have the false dichotomy between on the one hand: do nothing and on the other hand zero-covid. Zero-covid isn't realistic but why this increased "do nothing" language? 3/

I see some people share with glee a map of the US awash w coronavirus *cases* saying that policy doesn't make a difference. But this is disingenuous. We have large differences in death rate, hospitalization etc. per country. And that *is* due to politics and policies 4/

Take, for instance this on the introduction of vaccine passports in France (where there have always been a lot of anti-vaxxers), projections of how much is gained thanks to introducing them: 5/

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1483363625322651651

Of course, you can debate whether vaccine passports are an acceptable infringement of people's liberties. BUT that is entirely different from the discourse I've been seeing of some who argue that policies make no difference whatsoever, and cherry-pick data 6/

They happily switch from deaths and hospitalizations to cases (in the omicron-wave) to fit their narrative that basically we should throw in the towel. Living with covid, however, doesn't need to mean "throw in the towel and do absolutely nothing". 7/

Here is another key stat, namely that countries with better uptake of vaccination have achieved a much better decoupling of death and critical illness from cases than the US, where vaccination uptake remains quite low 8/

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1479218302954221570

And overall, the death rate in a lot of SE Asian countries has been so much overall lower than in many European countries. This does suggest policies make a difference. It has not proven true that mitigation measures somehow mean the virus will later catch up w anyway 9/

For instance, vaccine uptake in the US is a social phenomenon. Had it been higher, far fewer lives would have been lost in the omicron wave (see here for startling graph!) It is utterly avoidable 10/

https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1486408626260492290

But again the "live with it" crowd treats low vaccine uptake as some sort of unassailable fact of nature, rather than a social phenomenon with causes that psychologists and sociologists can study and can help to remedy. 11/

Also note how the "live with it" crowd is saying how bad mitigation measures are because school closures. They reduce mitigation measures all into school closures (I'd love to see these folks continue to fight for disadvantaged youth once this damn pandemic ends) 12/

There are so many mitigation measures (e.g., closing bars at 10). Some of these are inconvenient, others are more problematic (e.g., school closures), but I am just not compelled by the dichotomy of choice between school closures on the one hand and let it rip on the other 13/

I think we need nuance in discussion and policy. I think "I'm over it" and "live with it" (meaning do nothing) are not viable policy solutions. That's just as unnuanced as zero covid. But, sadly, after suffering for more than 2 years, that's not happening /end