I’m seeing a debate #onhere about whether or not Indigenous ways of knowing are also “science”.

I absolutely defer to Indigenous people & scholars on that, but I also think it’s important we remember that science itself is only one way of knowing among many, not ultimate truth.
I’m a scientist & obvi think science is a useful & important knowledge framework but it’s not the only useful & important one!

There’s so much more to know than the raw facts about the world science helps us learn. Art & music & literature & poetry are also ways of knowing.
Science shouldn’t have a monopoly on knowledge generation because there are so many things science can’t tell us.

We’ve put science on such a high pedestal that we’ve forgotten that it’s just a tool and not an end goal.
Science can help us move into a better future, but art and culture and, yes, even religion, help us envision what that better future will look like.
Your fave scifi author didn’t “predict” modern tech — they dreamed it up and gave scientists a goal to work towards.
Likewise, cultural myths and oral traditions don’t have to be “scientific” records to provide us with indispensable knowledge about how to live our lives and a vital map to a better future.
Take COVID as an example—science can tell us all about it and how to fight it, but it’s can’t really tell us why we *should* fight it.

To decide whether we will fight COVID we need to look inwards to ourselves & our hopes & dreams & wishes for the future.
We must not sacrifice all our other ways of knowing on the altar of Science.

As the world feels like it’s falling apart around us, with pandemics & climate change & late stage capitalism, we need art & culture & history & community even more than ever!

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More from @EpiEllie

Jul 9
THINK LIKE AN EPIDEMIOLOGIST

In light of some of the frantic tweets from others this week, a terminology reminder:

R0 means the expected average number of secondary infections resulting from the introduction of one infected person into an *entirely* susceptible population.
Our communities are full of people who have had vaccines & boosters & prior COVID infections. All those things mean we are NOT “entirely susceptible” to any omicron subvariant.

R0 is not the relevant number for Omicron.
Another number, Re (the effective reproductive number), describes the expected average number of secondary infections from one infected person in a *given* population at a given time with a given susceptibility profile.

This number changes so often that we sometimes call it Rt.
Read 21 tweets
Jun 29
Yesterday’s @ProMED_mail COVID round-up discussed a conference presentation on COVID & *diagnoses* of neurodegenerative disorders, but these disorders have a long pre-clinical / pre-diagnostic phase so seems like reverse causation to me. @melodem_group, thoughts?
Briefly, my thought here is that b/c of the long time from disease initiation to diagnosis, these individuals likely ^already^ had the neurodegenerative disease ^before^ they got COVID, and that neuro disease may have ^contributed^ to them being exposed to & infected with COVID.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 17
This is a good thread of tips for engaging students in class participation. Definitely give it a read!

I also thought I’d share some of my ideas. Overall, my style is to (try to) teach with empathy. I’m still fairly new at this, so thoughts & suggestions are very welcome!

1/🧵
Not all students are going to ask or have questions on the spot in a lecture, but it’s safe to assume that some students do. Asking questions is a big part of how people learn & incorporate information They shouldn’t be made to feel their questions are an imposition or a burden.
But, it’s also true that sometimes questions take a bit of thinking. One way I deal with that is by drawing on questions I’ve received in the past about this material — or even better, questions I’ve had myself.

I’ll ask the question & answer it myself, and then ask for more.
Read 8 tweets
May 20
The US’s second Omicron surge is fully here.

At the end of Jan / beginning of Feb, my hypothesis was that if there wasnt a clear national surge by the end of March we would be basically surge-free until the fall.

I was wrong.

A few thoughts 1/🧵
My original prediction built on these ideas:
1) Prior summer waves in the US were largely regional
2) Regions with summer waves spent summer mostly indoors
3) People would be outdoors more in many regions come spring
4) Spring/summer weather may be less conducive to transmission
Those were my prior beliefs, but even by Feb there was evidence that they weren’t all supported by data.

Many of you pointed to the UK 2nd surge, during early Spring, as evidence that Spring weather & going outdoors wouldnt be protective.

I dismissed that & shouldnt have.
Read 9 tweets
Mar 7
I saw someone say that much of what we see as scary about polio is actually “long polio” & tbh that’s pretty true.

I think the “long” framing makes it clear long COVID isn’t unprecedented & that we need to face up to it.

What other long infectious diseases are there?

A list*
*Thread disclaimer: obviously not all cases of all of the diseases in the following tweets share the exact same cause, because very few diseases have only one single cause (tho a few do!)

The diseases below are those that CAN be caused by infections with the pathogens listed.
Rheumatic heart disease ==> long strep throat / long scarlet fever
Read 19 tweets
Mar 7
Who are all these public health people supposedly arguing for no one to go anywhere or do anything ever, that mean we need so many “think” pieces condemning that?

The public health people I know want governments to step up and address this pandemic like a grown-up.

How? A🧵
Acknowledging that public health is a *public* responsibility & not an individual choice or about individual risk management.

Articulating a clear goal & listening to public feedback on it.
Designing & funding a robust data collection system. Specifying on-ramps *and* off-ramps for extra precautions.

Sustainably increasing public health & health care workforces and capacity.
Read 12 tweets

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