I agree with most of what Gregg says here, but it’s important to note that “popular opinion” is markedly different from the elite capture of Covid policy. If you don’t have an NBC gig, research program, tenure at Brown, a WH gig, etc. You probably support stronger public health.

https://twitter.com/gregggonsalves/status/1558452293296525314

We’ve got data coming out that suggests that, especially among Americans with chronic illnesses (which is around half the pop) Covid fatigue has increased but support for interventions has not decreased. People are tired. But they are also angry. And abandoned.

Thanks, I hate it. 🧵 technologyreview.com/2020/07/29/100… The best scenario is this is the scientifically literate version of homeopathy. These folks don't know if it works, and there's strong reasons to think it doesn't, and they aren't exactly keen to challenge this outside. So this is more about feeling in control than anything else.

A friend of a friend died today. They died not of #COVID19, but from the #COVID19 outbreak. (I won’t reveal who. People deserve their privacy.) #FlattenTheCurve They died because they were already ill, and when they got worse they attempted to seek medical help. They couldn’t get any, & were redirected to insufficient telehealth services. The got worse, and when they were finally seen in an emergency setting, they couldn’t recover.

My University “went virtual” as all the kids on Twitter are calling it. That is, they moved classes to online and prepared to send students home. This is how that went down, from the perspective of someone involved. #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve [thread] UML contacted me three weeks ago to weigh in, as the on-campus public health ethicist, to discussions around two emerging issues: travel restrictions and “academic continuity,” which is state employee-speak for getting classes online and sending students home.

This is a question my class asked, and we interrogated about #nCoV2019 today. This is what we found—and bear in mind we’re talking primarily about consequentialism this week, so we’re still in that lane. Sorry to my Kantian and adjacent peeps ;-) [thread]

https://twitter.com/SuspiciousPleb/status/1222508787434524672

A quick problem with this view is that “freaking out early” doesn’t really track stopping things in their track. At least, by any realistic measure of most if not all health systems in the world. Diseases move faster than surveillance.

Last thing about #nCov2019 tonight. In response to a few questions there seems to be a bit of confusion on an issue that, as a dude who works on public health ethics, I take really seriously: the role of uncertainty in a situation like this one.

[Thread] Public health authorities, in China and elsewhere, are operating under extreme conditions of uncertainty. They are having to make decisions based on that, and sometimes their decisions are going to bad ones.

Dude didn't own his last panic-mongering, now "fact checking" the Canadians based on a single case of questionable authenticity. There's NO authoritative evidence of asymptomatic transmission of #ncov2019.

There is, however, strong evidence of a grift on @CBCNews Dr. Ding doesn't work on infectious disease. (1 paper on HIV/HepC). At best, he works on all-cause mortality. Most of his personal work covers drug policy and nutrition. Important work, but not relevant. He's inserting himself into #nCoV2019 on purpose. scholar.google.com/citations?user…

Alright #biosecurity folks, let's talk about this article here. For reference: I was at the meeting the author mentions. I won't note other members because it was under Chatham House Rule. [THREAD] hindustantimes.com/analysis/the-w… Let's start with the claims. First: Insect Allies does not violate the letter or spirit of the BTWC. Any more than, say, resistance into antimicrobial resistance does.

Also - the proposed research of Insect Allies does not work in nearly as sci-fi terms as the author describes.