1/n
Several professors at Swiss & foreign universities from different disciplines told me that their public stances on Covid caused
- mobbing by colleagues
- revocations of funding commitments
- cuts of staffing
- attempts to revoke tenure
- inability to publish
- media campaigns 2/n
Some of these professors are in the medical field, others in chemistry, physics, economics, law, political science.

It is wide spread.

This culture of intimidation kills scientific progress.

It is the main reason why most public critics are retired or close to retirement

1a/n
Dear twitter community
#rhetoric is a tool to WIN a debate
This account is interested in the eternal, unapologetic search for TRUTH: science
This thread lists commonly used rhetorical tricks, logical fallacies and their scientific INvalidity with examples from Covid19 topics 1b/n
notice the word "eternal".
Anyone who claims that there is THE ONE, even settled science is either naive or dishonest.
Epistemology and scientific methodology seem alien to many during the pandemic.
Science is by definition ALWAYS up for discussion. Otherwise it is a belief

1/n
Thread
Analysis of the political and practical naiveté of scientists calling for a pan-European response to Covid19.

@ViolaPriesemann @EckerleIsabella @TheLancet

https://twitter.com/TheLancet/status/1352196030545211392

2/n
the majority of solutions proposed in the paper are not new. TTIS, masks etc.
they just hope implementation timing and coordination become better (earlier) and execution more efficient. Why would it? No answer.
Politics by its very nature is REactive, not proactive.

1/n
economics expert group of @SwissScience_TF asks for feedback on recent document on trade-offs.
here is ours.
@Marius_Brulhart @rlalive @MonikaBuetler
cc: @davidstadelmann
sciencetaskforce.ch/policy-brief/w… 2/n
vaccination is stimulus: yes.
the paper is built around the axiom of rapid vaccination of the vulnerable and everybody else.
is this realistic? prove it!
head of Swiss vaccination commission, Christoph Berger, expects herd immunity in 5-10 YEARS.
nzz.ch/schweiz/kurzin…

1/n
Thread
SOLUTIONS to avoid the disproportionate burden of Covid19 on elderly care.
The vast majority of Covid19 deaths are in nursing homes and to a lesser degree in at home care.
@LTCcovid @SwissScience_TF @keiserolivia @MBattegay @eggersnsf @EicherManuela @curaviva_ch 2a/n nursing homes make up roughly ~1% of the overall population.
It MUST be possible to focus resources on this tiny population minority and achieve better outcomes.

We have 100'000 beds in Switzerland = 1.2% of population. Death share >>50%

gateway.euro.who.int/en/indicators/…

1/n
#Frailty is the MAIN #Covid19 risk
Swedish per capita excess mortality over 70 is almost EXCLUSIVELY in nursing homes ("särskilt boende") and home care ("hemtjänst").
Almost NO excess in no care ("ej").
@LTCcovid @MBattegay
socialstyrelsen.se/globalassets/1… 2/n
baseline of previous years shows
1. per capita mortality risk is always much higher in elderly care settings. that means life expectancy is much shorter.
2. always MILD seasonality in deaths of all causes +/- 12.5%.
this year is different... cont.

1/25 nursing homes make up ~50% of Covid19 deaths but just ~1% of the population all over the Western world. we are proposing an INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH to improve outcomes and understanding. a thread with questions and sources @LTCcovid @AdelinaCoHe @keiserolivia @samiahurst 2/n Terminology: why are we using "nursing home" instead of "long term care facility" in this thread. we are using NH as a synonym for LTCF in because 1. it is better understood by laypersons and 2. it is shorter. In some visualizations shown below the French acronym is EMS.