The CDC wants to stop telling people to isolate for five days when they are sick with COVID. This is a reckless, anti-public health policy that contravenes science, increases disease spread, and puts everyone at greater risk. 🧵
The truth is COVID is still killing and disabling way too many people, and too many are locked out of society and can’t even access medical care safely due to high levels of COVID transmission. We still need strong isolation guidelines and better public health protections. /2
People look to the CDC for science-based guidance. But this policy change goes against the science and will cause more misinformation, misleading people to think that they can’t spread COVID if they “only” have “mild” symptoms. /3
The CDC claims that levels of immunity warrant a shift, but this is misinformation. It’s true that we are in a different phase than 2020, but thousands are still dying from COVID every week, millions have Long COVID, and every reinfection puts people at increased risk. /4
This is a reckless and fatalistic comment. While it’s true that many people conceal their sickness, the solution isn’t to make doing the wrong thing acceptable. Public health shouldn’t be a race to the bottom. /5
Instead of throwing its hands in the air and rubber-stamping disease spread, the CDC should be keeping its isolation guidance, while doing a lot more to normalize the wearing of N95 masks, which would reduce the harm from those who are going out when sick. /6
This is logic is highly flawed. Governments should push for increasing structural supports like free N95 masks, more paid sick leave, and clean air infrastructure. These policies would do more to help workers, than green-lighting policies that would make workers more sick. /7
Using only “clinical symptoms” to determine when to stay home doesn’t make sense as you can spread COVID without symptoms, and studies show many people hide or underplay their symptoms, which leads to disease spread. /8
The main force driving the CDC’s COVID isolation policy change isn’t science, it’s business groups. And it will lead to increased exploitation of workers, and make workers more sick. /9
The last time the CDC weakened its COVID isolation guidance, it did so due to pressure from airline CEOs. The same corporate pressures are causing the CDC to go against science and public health now. /10
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Brilliant protest. Yosemite National Park workers hung an upside-down American flag — traditionally a symbol of distress or a national threat — thousands of feet off the ground on the side of El Capitan.
Also, a fired Yosemite National Park service worker rappelled down El Capitan in protest of the illegal cuts.
Statement by Yosemite NPS workers: “These losses, while deeply personal and impactful, may also be invisible to visitors and the public — we are shining a spotlight on them by putting a distress flag on El Capitan in view of Firefall. Think of it as your public lands on strike.”
More details on censorship at the CDC from
@Alexander_Tin. TLDR; Trump officials stopped CDC scientists from publishing data on bird flu in the MMWR. Instead, they forced CDC scientists to publish on the health risks of wildfires to bolster Trump's attacks on CA Gov Newsom.
"As [the] pause has started to lift, Trump officials at HHS, and acting CDC Director Susan Monarez, refused repeated requests by career health officials to publish the completed [bird flu] research, officials say."
"The stalled research includes findings about pet cats owned by dairy workers being infected with bird flu, plus wastewater testing results and antibody testing of cow veterinarians."
The NIH announced it will slash billions of dollars of support to universities and research centers.
This is one of the biggest attacks on science we have ever seen. It could dismantle the biomedical research system, shut down clinical trials, and halt development of treatments.
I can't emphasize enough how disastrous the NIH cuts will be. If implemented as proposed, it could decimate universities and college towns. And it could mean every one of us in the US and around the world will experience shorter and less healthy lives.
This is NOT a drill. The NIH has announced the cuts will take effect Monday.
Do not stay silent. Now is the time to organize your labs, your departments, your campuses, your cities, and push back against this vengeful attempt to destroy science and universities.
The Trump admin has cancelled the panels that approve NIH grants, & is banning scientists from communicating with the public, attending conferences, & hiring.
NIH is the world’s largest funder of biomedical research. This will halt discovery of lifesaving treatments. Devastating
The Trump administration’s NIH freezes do not only affect federal science agencies. NIH grants fund research at universities and many other institutions. Halting NIH grant reviews sabotages important scientific research everywhere.
NIH-funded research does not only benefit people in the US. Researchers with NIH grants often collaborate closely with scientists around the world. And the vaccines, drugs, and treatments developed from NIH-funded research help save the lives of many people all over the globe.
The censorship begins: According to officials, the Trump administration is instructing health agencies including the CDC, FDA, NIH, and HHS to pause all external communications, such as health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts.
Asking health agencies to pause all external communications is NOT typical protocol for administration changes. Generally website updates, disease case counts, and other typical day-to-day work continues.
In their first term, the Trump administration instructed agencies overseeing environmental policy, such as the EPA, and the Agriculture and Interior departments to cease communicating with the public. In their second term, they appear to be targeting health agencies too.
BREAKING: The United States has recorded its first fatal case of H5N1 bird flu.
The death was reported by the Louisiana Department of Health. The patient contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds.
Please note that there still is no evidence of person-to-person transmission, which is why public health departments assess the *current* risk as low to the general public. People who work on poultry or dairy farms are most at risk.
Protective measures you can take include:
- Avoiding sick or dead animals
- Avoiding uncooked food product
- Wearing a well-fitting mask, gloves, and other PPE
- Getting your seasonal flu vaccination (to reduce the risk of coinfection)