😷 Don’t fall for Pluralistic Ignorance on Masks 😷 Letter campaign to the White House: Provide Free N95 Masks ⚕️ NIH must stop Long COVID trials on debunked remedies
Pandemic deniers have been so riled up and it's not good for families or our community.
Contents:
- Events, Actions, & Campaigns
- Pandemic field notes & “Living with the virus”
- In the News (virus & adjacent media, science, news, and op-eds)
- This is NOT Fine section (gaslighting & other outrages)
- He(a)rd Scuttlebutt (the pandemic grapevine)
USA Petition: Require masking in all healthcare settings
Just in time for flu season, with 300-400 US residents dying from COVID-19 daily, the CDC revised its infection control guidelines regarding mask-wearing in healthcare settings, from hospitals and clinics to home care providers and nursing homes. The new guideline recommended masks only need to be worn in healthcare settings when COVID Community Transmission rates are high, based on the CDC map. This change is dangerous, unethical and based on flawed data. By the People’s CDC
USA Letter campaign: Urge the White House and Congress to Provide Free N95 Masks!
The White House restarted its free rapid test distribution program, but this alone is not enough. The White House needs to also launch a program to mail free N95 masks to the public. Right now, in many cities and states across the country there is no distribution of free N95 masks to the general public. The federal N95 mask distribution program at pharmacies ended awhile ago. By MandateMasksUS
USA Petition: NIH must stop Long COVID trials on debunked, damaging therapies and fund strategic therapeutic research.
It is neglectful that RECOVER would choose to focus on exercise and forms of CBT when there are dozens of drugs available waiting to be tested that could lead to better outcomes and/or more clues as to the pathophysiology of Long COVID. It is a waste of taxpayer money, limited resources, and crucial time to be testing harmful, debunked hypotheses. By STRATEGIES FOR HIGH IMPACT
Don’t fall for Pluralistic Ignorance on Masks
In social psychology, pluralistic ignorance refers to a situation in which the minority position on a given topic is wrongly perceived to be the majority position or where the majority position is wrongly perceived to be the minority position. (Pluralistic ignorance, From Wikipedia)
🗞️ In the news
🇨🇦 Financial Post: Manulife insurance claims show post-COVID increase in diabetes among young people - There's been a 46% increase in the share of claims made on behalf of younger people Author of the article: Barbara Shecter Published Dec 08, 2022 (“It’s been pretty clear for over a year now that COVID … was probably associated with something like a doubling of diabetes risk in little kids,” said Dr. David Fisman, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, who has been outspoken about the health impacts of COVID-19 on children. “The effect pops up over and over again, and at this point the appropriate thing to do is assume it’s real and act accordingly, rather than say ‘We need more evidence.’” This is particularly so, he said, given the cost of diabetes in terms of both medical expenses and the harm to those with the condition.)
🇺🇸 News 12 New Jersey: Mask mandate returns in Passaic School District - Dec 21, 2022 (A seven-day average for confirmed positive tests shows that current case numbers are up 43% from one month ago. Masks must now be worn in all district facilities, school grounds and buses.)
🎒 Medscape: Schools Are Significant Sites of COVID Transmission by Kate Johnson (archive link) (The school setting is an important site of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, new data suggest. An analysis of surveillance data for almost 1000 exposures to SARS-CoV-2 found that students accounted for a higher proportion of infected individuals who caused onward transmission than did the public overall (46.2% vs 25%).)
🧸 Scientific American: The Number of Children Orphaned by COVID Keeps Rising By Juliette Unwin (For all children, poor-quality care can significantly impact the child’s mental and physical health and developmental outcomes, as well as the risk of suicide, chronic diseases and infectious diseases decades later.)
🇺🇸 The Philadelphia Inquirer: Pa. waived the basic skills requirement for educators. Will it work to attract more teachers? by Susan Snyder (archive link) (James Earl Davis, interim dean of Temple University’s college of education and human development, said the standardized tests have unfairly kept worthy candidates out of the teacher pipeline. “This doesn’t mean I’m endorsing having underqualified people in the classroom,” he said. “I’m begging the conversation about what do we mean by quality and excellence that we can get to beyond standardized testing.” Pottstown School District Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez said the state can no longer afford such a requirement. With so few candidates in the pipeline, classrooms are already staffed by teachers on emergency certification struggling to make it.)
This is NOT fine
A reporter with The New York Times was questioned if she joined a covid cautious parents group under false pretenses.
Tweet thread:
Sidra Galvin @sidraesq Replying to @gregggonsalves @amy_harmon and @nytimes What many don’t know is that Harmon posted in a private COVIDing support group for parents that she was one of us & wanted to present our perspectives to the world. Instead, she not only marginalized us for masking but also named our private group - as in “the freaks live here.” 7:10 PM · Dec 27, 2022
Amy Harmon @amy_harmon Replying to @sidraesq @gregggonsalves and @nytimes Hi @sidraesq. I identified myself as a reporter when I asked permission to join the group and didn't quote anything posted there. I'm sorry you felt marginalized by the story. I hoped it would raise awareness of the challenges, and fwiw, have heard from others who felt it did. 12:33 AM · Dec 29, 2022
Sidra Galvin @sidraesq Replying to @amy_harmon @gregggonsalves and @nytimes That’s simply not the whole truth, Amy. Yes, you identified yourself as a reporter. But you also attested that you are a parent that is following strict COVID precautions, as is required for everyone who joins our group. Was that a true statement? If not, why were you lurking in our group for several months? Dec 29, 2022
He(a)rd Scuttlebutt… pandemic grapevine 🍇🌱
I have now heard multiple stories about parents receiving intrusive visits by child protection authorities — for being covid cautious. Covid denier cousins and anti-vax in-laws have now been so riled up with hate toward the high risk and people avoiding sickness, that they’re resorting to reporting their own family members to law enforcement with accusations of child abuse — just because the family members declined to go to their superspreader holiday gatherings. This gaslighting campaign by big money is fueling harm to families and community. And this is understandably terrifying for parents, considering that if one has their child taken, parental rights could be terminated by the state government in as little as 5 months.
In the American Psyop podcast, in the episode “Psalm 27”, a person called Wes Clark Jr tells stories about odd things that happened to him at the Standing Rock protest and said there was a weird twitter campaign against him at the end of it. The hashtag was pushed by accounts which, the podcast producers say, are now known to be pushing covid disinformation. More evidence that anti-mitigation, anti-mask, and anti-vax bullshit on social media is coming from dubious actors and paid trolls. It seems like these accounts get bought and sold or deployed for various influence projects.
“The public has a right to a sound reading of the data that’s not influenced by politics and big business.”
— Mindy Thompson Fullilove, statement about the People’s CDC, in The New Yorker, December 2022