There seem to be three general categories of opinions on CDC's lowering of their recommended Covid isolation period from 10 to 5 days, that it was either:

1) A wise move
2) Could be okay with some tweaks (like add in testing)
3) A totally bad idea

But here's the thing... I think with few exceptions all 3 camps basically agree about key elements of the current evidence base. For instance that:

✔️Roughly ~10-20% are probably still infectious at 5 days
✔️The likelihood of being infectious might be lower if it's omicron and/or you were vaccinated

Something I realized is that a lot of academic-epi-med-twitter people seem to send their kids to pretty well-resourced public or private schools and things are, um, really different at those schools, compared to other places. They are just having a different experience.

https://twitter.com/BenjaminLinas/status/1475871422652108810

Yes, we *can* and *should* operate schools safely, but my school district sure doesn't have (or at least hasn't had) the resources or to do a lot of stuff like regularly test kids, space kids, limit class sizes, successfully get sick kids to stay home, ventilate all spaces, etc.

I have many moments in my public health career-life that have me pausing and recalling @brendankoerner’s incredible page turner of an account of the airline skyjackings of the ‘60s and ‘70s (The Skies Belong to Us). But the influence of airline execs in Covid policy in the past weeks, gosh the parallels… foxbusiness.com/economy/delta-…

Requiring Covid vaccination at @UMNews might have been politically treacherous and one could argue the hit we'd take from the legislature for such a decision isn't worth it. I don't think this is a great justification our lack of policy, but at least it would hold some water... ...unlike what is argued in this article, which doesn't square with what we know about getting groups vaccinated, or what's going on with universities around the US. startribune.com/counterpoint-v…

Can I tell you an EMBARRASSING personal story? Guys, this is BAD. B-A-D bad. Not that long ago, this epidemiologist, who certainly knows better, 100% supports the childhood vaccine schedule, was being vaccine-hesitant with her own son! And in the midst of a bad local measles outbreak, no less. I KNOW, this is ridiculous. But let me explain...

The coronavirus situation is very bad and getting worse. We all need to avoid, as much as we can, being indoors with people who are not from our households, but...

It's getting colder🥶
We're getting lonely😭
It's nice being outside and getting sun🌄
Moving around feels good🏃 HI THERE EVERYONE!!!! It's Rachel, a social epidemiologist living in Minnesota with some tips for you, YES YOU, on how to be outside (socializing or exercising or whatever) in the winter!

So here we are, midway through October, the pandemic rages, tearing through large swaths of the US including my region, a huge portion of the nation's public school are not going to school...

I'll just go ahead and state the obvious - this is very bad. 1/ This week, a conversation about whether keeping schools closed had more detriments than benefits was kicked off by @ProfEmilyOster's @TheAtlantic Op-Ed. @alexanderrusso's thread nicely summarizes some of this media tour (and let's not forget her appearance on @casualinfer!). 2/

In this installment of unhiding the #HiddenCurriculum I want to focus on interviewing for first faculty positions!

(#academictwitter, @AcademicChatter, #epitwitter) 1/14

https://twitter.com/rwidome/status/1272923501708656644

In my field (epidemiology) the daylong or multiday in-person interviews for faculty positions (which some fields call "the fly-out") include a public talk and a series of one-on-one or group meetings and interviews. First, let's talk about the job talk.

2/14

Are you thinking about applying for a MPH (Master of Public Health) degree program this year? I direct the MPH in epidemiology program at @PublicHealthUMN, and in today's unhiding of the #hiddencurriculum thread, I'll share my tips on how to put together a strong application. Here are the things you'll need to figure out as you start working toward applying for an MPH:

1) The deadlines
2) Who you can ask questions to
3) Program nuts and bolts
4) The audience receiving your application
5) What to display
6) How to communicate what you need to display

On #academictwitter people refer to a #HiddenCurriculum of informally acquired knowledge about how our world works that not everyone has equal access too.

I want to do some unhiding of this, in a few threads over the next few weeks...

Today = letters of recommendation! 1/n Like most people at my career stage I've had a ton of experience with letters of recommendation (LORs). I've asked others to write them for me, written bunches myself, and having served on our epidemiology MPH admissions committee for years, I've read boatloads. 2/n

The pandemic illustrates one of the challenges I face as an epidemiologist in communicating to the public (and media). I've been thinking about this for years:

As an epidemiologist, what I've got is not what you (a member of the public) usually want.

Let me explain...

1/5 Epidemiologists seek to understand patterns of health and disease in *groups* of people. We're also interested in what sorts of actions applied to groups could improve the their health.

What individuals often want is: "What should *I* do to protect *my* health?

2/5

How do I decide whether to say yes or no to a manuscript review request from an academic journal? I consider a few factors: 1) Is it in my area of expertise? Like do I feel like I have a unique perspective that would give it a really good review?

2) Does it look intriguing or fun to read? (This actually might be my #1!)