Just a note on the I-know-better-than-infectious-disease-clinicians-and-epidemiologists crowd among the journalists, pundits (and a couple of economists, which I only mention because they have large platforms to spout their views). 1/
Lately there has been a tone of ridicule and snark coming from some, suggesting it's a set of politics rather than the data that motivate our ongoing concern with the pandemic. You know who you are. Not giving your nonsense any 02 today. 2/
The reason our concerns remain is in the US, we are battling it out with other G7 countries for the top slot in COVID mortality and excess deaths and we are the "winner" most of the time. 3/ pandem-ic.com/death-in-the-g…
And according to the latest briefing document by @IHME_UW: Total deaths due to COVID-19 in the last week increased to 590 per day on average compared to 570 the week before (Figure 3.1). This makes COVID-19 the number two cause of death in the US this week (9/9/22). 4/ 
Life expectancy in the US fell in 2021, for 2nd year in a row. It was 1st time life expectancy dropped 2 years in a row in 100 years. Other hi-income countries have seen a rebound in life expectancy, which makes the U.S. results all the more tragic. 5/ npr.org/sections/healt…
And read @zeynep's article on #LongCovid: "For the United States, 0.6 percent of the population would mean about two million people potentially facing a debilitating condition, comparable to those expected to be diagnosed with cancer this year." 6/ nytimes.com/2022/08/25/opi…
In addition to mockery, these folks like to caricature our views on pandemic mitigation suggesting we want a return to 2020, think masks are the only thing that matters. This is another easy, lazy way to refuse to engage with facts. 7/
Most of us have been dealing with infectious disease control, prevention and treatment for decades. This isn't our first time at the rodeo, this is for some a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th pandemic they've been on the frontlines for. 8/
What do we want? Lots of things. Let's make a list. 9/
First, we need to ensure everyone has access to tests, vaccines & treatments regardless of ability to pay. The program for the uninsured expired and the #Biden Administration is crowing about shifting this all to the commercial market. This is bad. 10/ cnn.com/2022/08/16/hea…
15 million Americans risk losing health coverage once the pandemic emergency is declared over. Some are urging on the Biden Administration to end the emergency as soon as possible. 11/ healthcaredive.com/news/Medicaid-…
Health coverage and access to key commodities--tests, vaccines and treatments--are a non-negotiable. All the modern Dr. Strangeloves, who have stopped worrying and learned to love the virus, never mention any of this. 12/
And to this do-nothing-Congress: we need a new #COVID19 special appropriations bill now. 13/
Let's talk about ventilation. Masks are the bete-noire of these folks, but they'll talk about ventilation from Harvard to the White House, but where is the campaign to get every school, every public building upgraded, where is the money to pay for it? 14/
Access to vaccines, tests, treatments isn't just about paying for them: we need a campaign to bring the tools to the people. The next person who says "we have the tools," I'm going to ask to take their next job in the poorest town in the American South & report back in 2023. 15/
And if you get sick, you need to be able to stay home, even though there seems to be a thread among these folks that power-through-it-and-show-up-at-the-office is OK. Nope. Stay home. For that we need universal sick pay. 16/ equitablegrowth.org/paid-sick-leav…
And some people may never get back to work. The former editor of @jama Howard Bauchner just suggested a National Long COVID Compensation Plan. Sounds like a good idea. 17/ healthaffairs.org/content/forefr…
There is a lot more to list and I won't continue because we'd be here all day. 18/
However, I do have to say as someone who has been a public health advocate for 3 decades that I know this schtick: those who downplay the pandemic are doing someone else's dirty work. 19/
To those who have mocked my brilliant colleague @thrasherxy's great new book, The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide, we know what you're doing and whom you're doing it for. 20/ us.macmillan.com/books/97812507…
Because we know from Steven to Paul Farmer to Rudolf Virchow that infections are about inequalities. Steven is speaking truth to power. You are defenders of the status quo, masquerading as a sensible interlocutor. As Paul said.... 21/
To those who have downplayed the risks of this disease its past and current toll, you've misrepresented the data for your own interests, your own comfort, for your own careers. 22/
It's profiteering in a pandemic. 23/
And some of you have become true believers in your own spin, and ended up now playing footsie with the anti-vaxxers, the libertarian-and-religious-right crowd that would like to gut public health protections for all diseases like a fish. 24/
The reason you succumb to mockery or caricature is because even if you've "won" the policy debates and we're partying like it's 2019, those voices that say the emperor has no clothes just cannot be tolerated. 25/
You see you want our silence too. You want complete and utter victory. 26/
One last thing. There have been journalists and economists that have been heroes during this pandemic and I want to say that, as I am not castigating professions (god knows we have our own problems within public health and medicine), but the deniers and downplayers among us. 27/
Oh and before I go. So many of us have not had a break, particularly clinicians, people suffering with this disease, those at high risk of compilations, front line public health workers. Know that you are not alone. 28/
There are many of us. We don't often have the platform, the power, are often on the back foot in the public debates. But don't give up. Don't despair. We have each other. end/
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