Mask mandates will soon be gone. So let's talk about mask etiquette.
We all have different views of risk and need to respect that. Many people will still be wearing masks - they remain recommended and are effective.
Shaming or pressuring these folks to take them off is wrong. Let's also talk about what mask to wear if, like me, you will continue wearing masks in public indoor spaces
Any mask protects more than none, but since not everyone will be wearing them you need get a well fitted, high quality mask. So a P2 or N95 mask.
ozsage.org/wp-content/upl…

1 in 10 people who have EVER been diagnosed with COVID in Australia were diagnosed in the past 24 hours. The next few weeks will be tough but we will get through this

Prevent infection when you can
Prepare for what will happen if you get infected
Take care of yourself if you do Prevent infection when you can
Here is a fantastic video on improving your mask game. Better masks are more comfortable than you think!

https://twitter.com/kate_cole_/status/1479275943566868483

The numbers this morning are confronting and the lack of capacity for testing is making everyone very anxious.
We need to collectively get through the Omicron wave and then move forward differently
A 🧵 What do we do about omicron?
It is now crystal clear that even a "mild" variant of COVID can have a serious impact on our essential services. With over 50,000 cases in Australia today just between NSW and Victoria we all need to act to manage this outbreak
straitstimes.com/asia/australia…

Some responses to my 🧵are so interesting and demonstrate gender bias in action. So a mini-🧵on how attribution bias affects our perception of the outcomes of male and female surgeons.

https://twitter.com/enenbee/status/1458559622969581568

Most people when they think of a surgeon, think of a man. This has an impact on how we unconsiously perceive the outcomes of male and female surgeons. The accomplishments of women are undervalued - they got lucky - while they are blamed - AS A GROUP - for mistakes

One of the most important pieces of research I have ever done has been published in @JAMASurgery today.
@fdossa @AndreaSimpsonMD @danzeltzer and Rinku Sutradhar and I looked at gender bias in referrals to surgeons.
Spoiler alert: men refer to men

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamas… Using referral data from 40 million referrals to almost 6,000 surgeons in Ontario we examined if male and female referring physicians differed in their referrals to male and female surgeons using data at @ICESOntario
What we found both did and did not surprise me

An absolutely bizarre interview with Professor Lyn Gilbert, Chair of the Infection Control Expert Group, the key source of guidance for the Commonwealth government on @RNBreakfast with @frankelly08 this morning.

I encourage you to listen for yourself

abc.net.au/radionational/… Prof Gilbert clearly accepts that there is airborne transmissmission
"We have always accepted that the respiratory particles produced by people when they talk and cough and sing and so on, include some small particles that can remain in the air for longer than the droplet"

I thought it was timely to post this really helpful article discussing airborne transmission of COVID19. These are myths that continue to be supported by some "experts" that are causing harm. It is worth a read.
journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-… Myth #1: "Aerosols are droplets with a diameter of 5 μm or less”
Focusing on size is not that helpful. If the particle remains suspended in the air (which depends on size and condition) then it is airborne and potentially transmissible in this way. Also, particles shrink!!

This review of vaccination of COVID19 by Prof Raina Macintyre @KirbyInstitute is required viewing
Well worth 34 minutes of your time, but watch at 1.75 speed if you are in a hurry
We need to rethink our approch to vaccination in 🇦🇺

h/t @kate_cole_

The proportion of the population that needs to be vaccinated to achieve elimination through herd immunity varies with the efficacy of the vaccination - essentially unless we have a vaccine that is at least 70% effective.

Female surgeons no longer need to disguise themselves as men but gender bias is still rampant in surgery. What steps can surgeons take today to mitigate the effects of gender bias? A few strategies from our editorial @BJSurgery

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10… This won't get better with as the # of women in surgery increases. More women in medicine has not resulted in gender equity in leadership. We can’t wait passively on the pipeline – the pipeline leaks. Or more accurately, women are pushed out of the pipe the higher it goes.