I spoke to @emmaogreen for this piece and now wish I didn't. It turned out to be a hit piece and an encomium for the status quo. 1/
The title alone is the second ludicrous lead in a story in a major American publication this week: masking is forever. This is just silly, meant to drive a wedge between anyone who wants more from our leaders and the readers of their stories. 2/
In fact, if you read the Nature consensus statement on COVID19, you'd see a more comprehensive approach to the pandemic is pretty uncontroversial unless you think Nature is some socialistic periodical. 3/ nature.com/articles/s4158…
And as someone who was in ACT UP, yeah, sure our rhetoric was white hot, but more often than not the policies we advocated for were on-target. Here the author uses the high-pitched rhetoric to bait mainstream experts into slamming the People's CDC. 4/
The most super-annoying thing is that the author's policy preferences, politics and biases are well-known. 5/ theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
And the schtick is the same, take outlandish remarks, the most extreme quotes you can find to caricature criticism of the current approach to the pandemic in a way that makes any departure from the status quo seem foolish or nuts. 6/
So, Emma. Let's hear it. 400 dead per day for months, third leading cause of death three years in a row--what do we do now? 7/
I don't have to buy into charges of eugenics or narratives of corporate influence to recognize that this story is about the author's cozying up to power, kissing up and punching down, a testament, a proof of her allegiance to never rocking the boat. 8/
The point is Emma: we have among the highest per capita COVID mortality and excess deaths in the G7, US life expectancy is sliding ever downwards, and we have a new leading cause of death near the top in America. Those are the facts. We could have, could do much much better. 9/
This story could have been about a better future for all of us, but your stories suggest we've been doing too much for too long on this pandemic, you caricature criticism of the status quo with a gusto of someone who has the luxury of ignoring its current impact. 10/
As my friend and mentor Paul Farmer once said: “Those whose lives are rarely touched by structural violence are uniquely prone to recommend resignation as a response to it.” 11/
More people will die over the next few weeks than died on 9/11--two, three or more times over. Many, most of them preventable deaths. 12/
I am not part of the People's CDC, but right now I stand with them, as you try to push them to the margins of the debate, though you are really more interested in silencing criticism of the current US response to the pandemic, which suits you just fine. end/

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More from @gregggonsalves

Dec 27
Dear @amy_harmon, so, a few things. First the piece is entitled The Last Holdouts, which although you didn't write the headline indicates someone at the @NYTimes thinks those who mask are outliers, a small group who are out of step with America. 1/
Yes, you do give voice to those who still feel like they need to mask but the framing of what is happening is problematic. 2/
You characterize "the last holdouts" as "the vulnerable and the risk averse." This contains two categories those with underlying conditions & those who are fearful (i.e., risk-averse). Nowhere does the idea emerge that some of us masking is about our compassion for others. 3/
Read 19 tweets
Dec 27
This thread by @EpiEllie is important & it points to a fundamental difference in training, outlook and incentives. The examples Dr. Wachter uses related to individual risk and he frames COVID choices in this way because many physicians don't think about population health. 1/
After three years of watching many people talk about risk in this way, it may be a structural feature of both the medical profession & the history of the medicalization of public health, which drove the field towards an individual-based approach. 2/ (see: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
But the individual, patient-based approach to health leaves too much on the table because "Medical care is estimated to account for only 10-20 percent of the modifiable contributors to healthy outcomes for a population." 3/ nam.edu/social-determi…
Read 12 tweets
Dec 26
Any infectious disease doctor mocking people for wearing masks, giving a thumbs up to Vinay Prasad’s grotesque behavior really needs to consider who they serve and what they think the hell they’re doing. You disgust me.
And if you’re “liking” this man’s tweets perhaps you should read this. cancerletter.com/the-cancer-let…
Read 4 tweets
Dec 25
As for @SHEA_Epi guidelines. What if we actually looked to see if nosocomial infection was happening in hospitals? Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission from Patients With Undiagnosed COVID-19 to Roommates in a Large Academic Medical Center. 1/ academic.oup.com/cid/article/74…
As @dr_kkjetelina has mentioned and @AdeleGroyer has reported hospital based infections have spiked in the NHS. 2/
Yes PCR is a blunt instrument & testing everyone with it doesn’t pinpoint infectious cases, but would love to see @SHEA_Epi’s analysis of the data they used to make the decision to stop asymptomatic testing in healthcare facilities because this will now become national policy. 3/
Read 18 tweets
Dec 18
Just a winter warning. We’re getting better at preventing #covid hospitalizations & deaths when people are optimally boosted, have access to treatment & care, but the Omicron variants are especially efficient spreaders, which means absolute numbers this winter could be bleak. 1/
Vaccines are awesome. But how many Americans have had the new boosters? Answer: ~13.5%. 2/ nytimes.com/2022/12/16/hea…
And Paxlovid? Well, again, many who might benefit from it don’t get it and this is most acute among African Americans. 3/ khn.org/news/article/p…
Read 8 tweets
Dec 13
.@germanrlopez‘s piece in the @nytimes yesterday makes the mistake of treating endemicity as a fact of life where #COVID19, #influenza, #RSV are just with us, sometimes one will be bad one year, sometimes another. 1/
As @ArisKatzourakis said in January, the set-point for viruses is not just fate, there is the potential for human agency here, where we can affect the levels of human suffering and death. 2/ nature.com/articles/d4158…
In fact, it’s about how much death, illness and disability we can tolerate. 3/ thenation.com/article/societ…
Read 10 tweets

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