Thread by @drchandra86

I have seen some poor arguments against #UrgencyOfNormal recently..the lowest form involves attacking authors based on their race and SES .. many signatories are essential workers including nurses, frontline physicians etc. who have lived and dealt w/ covid for two years 1/10

Others misrepresent the argument as calling the "pandemic to be over", "disregarding the vulnerable" & "taking our masks away" but the entire premise is focused on removing unnecessary restrictions that have no demonstrable impact on changing the course of the pandemic .. 2/10

and restoring normalcy for those at lowest risk for poor outcomes I.e. school aged children and coll. students whose low risk is now even lower with vaccinations & recovery from prior infection..it is imperative now we unburden & restore their right to a vibrant social life 3/10

I think many have ignored talking about immunity after covid infection because of their strong opposition to the #GBD earlier in the pandemic..same goes for incidental covid (from vs with)..the silence on this in the U.S. has been deafening 4/10

Other arguments involve calls for equity which are sadly misguided as they double down on the same policies (such as school mask mandates/ isolation) tht have minimal effect size & have failed to prevent the staggering inequities that they hope to avoid 5/10

the major fallacy of these arguments is placing almost equal or more importance on the effectiveness of masks/ testing/ isolating compared to vaccines/immunity from inf. whose effect sizes are not even in the same ball park. 6/10

Mentioning similar European policies for children, the response is that somehow continuing these marginally beneficial measures (at best) with poor evidence in the lowest risk age groups somehow compensates for the failings of our society both before and during the pandemic 7/10

The old normal did not work for so many people, we live in a racist society with massive SES inequalities..that is a fact... But that doesn't justify what's happening to young adults and children right now in the US 8/10

Why do we keep giving our govt a free pass by focusing on individual level solutions .."wear a mask and stay home" was the biggest cop out when we could have instead focused on long term investments to address structural issues to protect the vulnerable 9/10

Solutions that provide resources like paid sick leave, paid parental leave, expanding Medicaid, ventilation upgrades, incentives for vaccination, address structural barriers to access therapeutics, testing and high quality masks will garner widespread public support 10/10