Thread by @WesleyEpplin

1/ So tired of smug garbage thought pieces in pubs like @TheAtlantic trivializing #COVID mass death & #HealthInequity

Thousands dying daily & cont'd health inequity means we haven't done what's needed to stop mitigations or "open" things that aren't even closed #UrgencyOfEquity

2/ Pieces like this endorse society brushing past those who remain at most risk from #COVID to move to a past inequitable "normal," while making a passing, half-hearted "that's tragic" comment about continued COVID health inequities & suffering. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

3/ Interesting that the author expressed concern that "Many white-collar workers still haven’t returned to the office" but failed to mention healthcare, retail, or factory workers. #UrgencyOfEquity #COVID

4/ To be fair, the author did mention teachers, but only to remark that they "continue to wear masks in the classroom" & how that marks a lack of return to (an inequitable, unjust) "normal" #UrgencyOfEquity #COVID19

5/ Unhelpfully, @TheAtlantic labels such pieces as "ideas," as if that says anything about their value. The thoughts/ideas in this particular piece aren't original , for sure, nor are they well-supported. They don't engage with complexity or inequity in a meaningful, helpful way

6/ Just a note that #COVID19 cannot "remain endemic" when the disease is not yet endemic. It hasn't exited the pandemic phase.

7/ False choices are presented, as if we couldn't reduce all of these risks––through #PublicHealth interventions––& need to just tolerate these high risks.

No, the moral obligation is to re-order society to prevent unnecessary suffering & death, & eliminate health inequities

8/ Interesting that the author notes, "You might get hurt, and so might another driver, or *even a child crossing the road*" to set up this false choice because...

9/ ...motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of deaths for kids in the US. It wasn't always the case. It's not the case everywhere.

Various #PublicHealth interventions can reduce risk. Like #COVID, we don't have a "moral obligation" to stay put; we must stop health inequity

10/ Pieces like this are not just harmful w/ framing & false choices, they typically fail to suggest measures the writer would support outside of pharmaceutical interventions. It's just "reduce the mitigations" without offering any useful alternatives

11/ No mention of massive investment in HVAC #ventilation & filtration upgrades, #HEPA, or #CorsiRosenthalBox es, just more of the same, "open everything" (when things aren't closed) & complaints about masks––without solutions to the ongoing mass deaths & health threat. Sickening

12/ No mention of global #COVID #VaccineApartheid & what we need to do to put an end to that, or how that worsens everyone's risks.

13/ Worse, "ideas" thought pieces like these aren't aligned w/ building power for #HealthEquity because the writers can't even entertain the idea that we could get what is needed to eliminate health inequity. Thus, such pieces undermine demands for what's needed for #PublicHealth

14/ Rather, pieces like this excuse mass deaths & give comfort to corporate power who want to get back to the racial capitalist version of "normal," in which wealthy elite profit from the sacrificial deaths of workers, disproportionately people of color & people living in poverty

15/ Risks to people with disabilities, immunocompromised people, unvaccinated people, & our children are quickly moved past... while the statement is coupled with feigned "compassion," for unvaccinated people w/ no mention of disinformation campaigns & inequitable vaccine access

16/ Worse, the author seems to support heaping scorn on people who are unvaccinated, again, with no mention of disinformation, distrust, & access inequity. That's not compassion.

17/ As many have noted, things aren't even closed unless too many staff are sick, so "Open Everything," is a ridiculous notion.

It's the worst kind of attention-getter: False in its presentation while showing disregard for injustice & mass death. #UrgencyofEquity

18/ The insidious suggestion is that if you haven't yet gotten back to "normal," there's something wrong with you...

#UrgencyOfEquity #COVID

19/ ...and further, as if there weren't something wrong with a society brushing past mass deaths & continued longstanding #HealthInequity so that the relatively privileged & comfortable can get back to their "normal"

#UrgencyOfEquity #COVID19

20/ Our words matter. Our actions matter. Are you on the side of stopping mass death, or do you think getting back to a past unjust "normal" is the path for you?
End.

"that's tragic" has BIG "that's a shame" energy here

+ It's chilling how children's lives are treated w/ contempt: "...effective vaccines are available, free of charge, to any American OVER THE AGE OF 5 WHO CHOOSES to take them."

What 5-year old chooses which vaccines to take?

Just 23% of kids 5-11 are vaccinated #UrgencyOfEquity