JavaScript is not available.

Nov 10, 2022

It’s not that mask policies are costless - It’s that we can share small costs to avoid the highest costs: Lost lives and health, further overburdened health care systems

Quote Tweet

Benjamin Veness

@venessb

Nov 10, 2022

“Universal masking policies distribute a small cost across society, rather than shifting the highest burdens of Covid-19 onto populations that have already been made vulnerable by structural racism and other inequities.” – editorial by @JuliaRaifman & @Tiffany_L_Green

298

834

Opinion | Tonya Ingram Feared the Organ Donation System Would Kill Her. It Did.

Thank you to

@kciesemier

for this important piece on the preventable death of a young woman and what is badly needed to improve the organ donation system in the US

nytimes.com

Tonya Ingram died waiting for a kidney. Without urgent action, thousands more will die, too.

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Dr Ellie Murray, ScD

@EpiEllie

Police brutality is a public health crisis. We cannot advance public health without acknowledging and fighting to change this.

414

One policy states or cities could implement in this context is masked morning hours in public spaces — libraries, public buildings, grocery stores, & masked cars on transit This would help immunocompromised people, babies, older people, & anyone wishing to reduce COVID exposure

Quote Tweet

Michael R Anderson MD

@MikeAndersonMD

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

CDC urges immunocompromised to take precautions after Covid knocks out Evusheld - CNBC apple.news/AhOX-rLQoTyu_l

196

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@AOC

Tyre Nichols should be alive. Charges alone aren’t justice. Change is. At least 1,176 people were killed by law enforcement last year - a record. Billions in trainings, body cams, and reforms haven’t stopped it. In fact, it’s gotten worse. We must grow out of this cycle together

1,969

7,240

45.8K

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Eric Topol

@EricTopol

A new prospective Covid study from George Washington University indicated 36% of students, faculty and staff developed #LongCovid, with risk factors identified (no controls) wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29

198

1,013

1,896

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Grateful to

for sharing these important data on disparities in the burden of COVID by neighborhood We have seen differential exposure at work & at home since the start of the pandemic bostonglobe.com/2023/01/26/met

Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham

@paulgp

The distribution of costs for infant, toddler and school-aged care per month according to the DOL's new dataset. Average cost, weighted by population, in 2022: 765 per month for infants, 692 per month for toddlers, and 540 per month for school aged dol.gov/agencies/wb/to

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Order HEALTH COMMUNISM (October 18)

@realLandsEnd

Why The White House Shouldn't Privatize Covid Vaccines

This year covid will be pushed to the private market, yet 10k people died last month. Tell the Biden Administration: If they want to keep fueling a forever covid crisis, the federal government must pay for it in perpetuity.

@avierkant

& I for

@TeenVogue

teenvogue.com

"It is hard to overstate just how much of a disaster this would be."

293

725

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Just Equity For Health

@just_equity

If you missed our January #SocialMedicine Rounds, you can now watch the recording on YouTube! Watch "'We Won't Back Down!': Health Communications in the Age of Misinformation": youtu.be/aUb3_rf4ym8

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Sam Scarpino

@svscarpino

How has this winter’s respiratory disease season shaped up? It’s been terrible. But, we’ve become so desensitized it feels like things were ok. Along with

Wait, Is This Pandemic Winter Going … Okay?

and others I spoke with the unrivaled

@KatherineJWu

about RSV, flu, & covid.

theatlantic.com

Experts say things have gone better than expected. But the bar set by the past few years is awfully low.

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Chicago Sun-Times

@Suntimes

Pritzker warns College Board against any AP course changes to appease DeSantis and ‘Florida’s...

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is going to battle with the national College Board over what he calls “political grandstanding” by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

chicago.suntimes.com

In a letter, Pritzker told the nonprofit College Board that Illinois will reject a revised African American Studies course if it doesn’t include “a factual accounting of history, including the role...

276

833

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

A recent

opinion piece speculated that COVID-19 deaths are over-counted. Our new

@ConversationUS

article explains why this piece is flawed. COVID-19 deaths are not overcounted; most evidence indicates they are undercounted. Thread 1/6

theconversation.com

COVID-19 deaths in the US continue to be undercounted, research shows, despite claims of 'overcou...

Taking into consideration the number of excess deaths caused by COVID-19 compared with pre-pandemic years is critical to getting an accurate accounting of the pandemic’s real toll.

118

2,259

5,347

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Andrew Goldstein

@AndrewMakeTweet

Early Estimates of Bivalent mRNA Booster Dose Vaccine ...

New CDC data: Bivalent booster cuts infection risk in HALF If you haven't gotten the bivalent booster, get it. And spread the word.

cdc.gov

This report describes how a bivalent mRNA booster dose provided additional protection against symptomatic XBB/XBB.1.5 infection for at least the first 3 months after vaccination in persons who had pre

Most of the increase in deaths in this age group (60%) was due to COVID

New CDC Wonder 2021 death data show large disparities in deaths at young ages even prior to the pandemic -- Disparities grew in 2020 & more so in 2021 Policies to mitigate COVID surges & counter historic & modern structural inequities can help Data: wonder.cdc.gov/controller/dat

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Tolly Taylor

@TollyTaylor

RI senate president calls replacing 35,000 lead water pipes a top priority

#NEW: “I’m concerned about the mental health of children who consume water with lead in it, and I think that has a debilitating effect,” says RI Senate President

@SenatorRuggerio

. He says his bill requiring all 35K lead water pipes replaced a top priority.

wpri.com

Rhode Island is receiving $141 million from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help replace lead water pipes.

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Jan 24

Starting now, very much looking forward to being in conversation with

Quote Tweet

Excited to have Social Medicine Rounds with these two brilliant souls- Drs. @JuliaRaifman and @Lakshmi_RKG. See you soon! einsteinmed.edu/departments/fa

Mark Herz

@markherzradio

Jan 24

“Hispanic people were 30% more likely to die in 2021 than in 2019. Black people were 23% more likely to die."—

@BUSPH

Deaths of Black, Hispanic and young Massachusetts residents rose in 2021

@GBHNews

“Sobering isn’t even the word for it — it's a little terrifying,”—

@The_BMC

's Dr. Cassandra Pierre

wgbh.org

"Hispanic people were 30% more likely to die in 2021 than in 2019. Black people were 23% more likely to die in 2021 than in 2019 in Massachusetts.”

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Stella Safo, MD MPH

@AmmahStarr

Jan 24

Excited to have Social Medicine Rounds with these two brilliant souls- Drs.

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

and

@Lakshmi_RKG

. See you soon! einsteinmed.edu/departments/fa

Michael Schwandt (he/him)

@MichaelSchwandt

Official and unofficial statements of an 'end' to an extraordinary pandemic (and not it's not ending soon) should not excuse an end to supports that ought to be ordinary.

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Aaron Carr

@aaronAcarr

As Thousands Fall Behind on Rent, Public Housing Faces ‘Disaster’

“Public housing tenants were given the lowest priority of those eligible for pandemic rental assistance.”

nytimes.com

The New York City Housing Authority collected just 65 percent of the rent it charged in the 12 months leading up to December, the lowest percentage in the agency’s history.

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Judd Legum

@JuddLegum

Teachers in Manatee County, Florida, are being told to make their classroom libraries — and any other "unvetted" book — inaccessible to students, or risk felony prosecution. The new policy is part of...

1. Florida teachers are being told to remove all books from their classroom libraries OR FACE FELONY PROSECUTION The new policy is based on the premise that teachers are using books to "groom" students or indoctrinate them with leftist ideologies. 🧵

4,433

23.9K

36.3K

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Learned so much from this event on improving early childhood ed subsidies in Massachusetts Grateful to

& speakers for their work tbf.org/news-and-insig

JAMA

@JAMA_current

Jan 5

The US continued to experience significantly higher #COVID19 and excess all-cause mortality compared with peer countries during 2021 and early 2022, a difference accounting for 150 000-470 000 deaths.

jamanetwork.com

COVID-19 and Excess All-Cause Mortality in the US and 20 Comparison Countries, June 2021-March 2022

This study compares the COVID-19 per capita overall and excess mortality rates in the US vs rates for 20 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and the timing of any...

310

461

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Boston Public Health

@HealthyBoston

Wearing a mask that fits well and can be worn regularly will help you stay healthy from COVID-19, flu, and RSV when gathering. Also, consider testing right before getting together, especially if older people or others at high risk for severe COVID-19 will be present.

Text on a brilliant red background reads: Attending a Lunar New Year celebration? We recommend wearing a well-fitting, high-quality mask in public indoor spaces and getting tested for COVID-19 before and after attending. Visit boston.gov/bphc for more information on the Boston Public Health Commission

read image description

ALT

143

384

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Jan 21

"16K+ children are on a waiting list for a state childcare subsidy, according to the most recent count last February. A previous report... estimated inadequate childcare access costs the state $2.7 billion a year in lost earnings for employees and $812 million for employers."

Quote Tweet

Craig LeMoult

@clemoult

Jan 11

Massachusetts' childcare subsidy system is leaving kids behind, according to a new study by @masstaxpayersfd wgbh.org/news/local-new @GBHNews

Minnesota House DFL Majority

@mnhouseDFL

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

And with that, the Minnesota House has voted to codify reproductive freedom into state law 🥳

351

618

5,491

Abraar Karan

@AbraarKaran

1/ I was asked yesterday by

@mehdirhasan

about the ‘with v for’ argument on #covid19 hospitalizations/deaths which has been used by some to argue that hospitals are over-counting

@MSNBC

1:40

2.3K views

Codetections of Other Respiratory Viruses Among Children Hospitalized With COVID-19

Here is the link to this important study in

@AmerAcadPeds

Thank you to

@CDCgov

researchers who led this work & to all who contributed May we do more to mitigate, starting with improved & equitable delivery of child COVID & flu vaccinations

publications.aap.org

OBJECTIVES:. To assess the clinical impact of respiratory virus codetections among children hospitalized with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.METHODS:. During...

Recovery from hospitalization with a severe illness can be a long road and have many repercussions. Grateful to this family that spoke out about the risk of child hospitalization for a child with COVID co-infection during the Delta surge. gofundme.com/f/justin-lee-m

Hospitalizations “with COVID” are important of their own accord Children with COVID and another infection were more severely ill than children infected only with COVID Thank you

@robsteinnews

for important reporting

Quote Tweet

Rob Stein

@robsteinnews

Jan 18

COVID, flu, colds and RSV: Can more than one hit you at once? npr.org/sections/healt

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

BPS Families for Covid Safety

@FamCOSa

Jan 14

Join us Wed 1/25 for a Teach-In: How Do We Win Green & Healthy Schools? Register at bit.ly/GreenSchoolsTe! Register by Fri 1/30 if you need interpretation in languages other than Spanish. And please spread the word! #BPSSafety #bospoli #OurCityOurSchools

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Jeremy Faust MD MS (ER physician)

@jeremyfaust

insidemedicine.substack.com

Inside Medicine: A point-by-point rebuttal of the Washington Post's double down on Covid deaths being "overcounted."

A point-by-point rebuttal of the Washington Post's double down on Covid deaths being "overcounted."

Last week, a Washington Post columnist with whom I am friendly (but have had important disagreements with) wrote that we are overcounting Covid-19 deaths in Massachusetts. The opinion relied upon...

162

405

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

On todays

talks about our #LongCovid review "The lack of the medical community's dealing with this inconvenient truth - we have to get over that. We've got to support these folks. We've got to come up with better treatments.. 1/

npr.org

As the pandemic enters its 4th year, there's still much to learn about long COVID

Researchers estimate at least 65 million people worldwide have suffered from long COVID. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Dr. Eric Topol about a paper he co-authored on what we know about long COVID.

149

392

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Caroline Kitchener

@CAKitchener

NEWS: Kansas lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow cities + counties to ban abortion -- despite the August referendum where Kansans voted overwhelmingly in favor of protecting abortion rights.

864

956

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

I talked to

from the

on strategies to prevent #LongCovid Early use of antiviral therapy is important. We released some data on this and more on the way. We also need to find therapies for people who already have #LongCovid

theatlantic.com

Trying to Stop Long COVID Before It Even Starts

New data offer hope that chronic illness can be headed off with the right combination of drugs.

181

495

Dr. Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman@med-mastodon.com) Retweeted

Justin Wolfers

@JustinWolfers

Jan 19

My thoughts on why raising the debt ceiling isn't like reigning in your family's credit card limit, but rather it's refusing to pay your credit card bill.

Quote Tweet

Craig Harrington

@Craigipedia

Jan 19

CNN later interviewed Univ. of Michigan economist @JustinWolfers about the misleading household budget analogy promoted by Republicans, and he knocked it out of the park. The GOP is simply refusing to pay for things they've already bought with legislation they themselves passed.

Show this thread

1:08

28.9K views

199

662

Jan 19

"A strong democracy relies on debate and dialogue... When facts are turned into fiction, and fiction turned into fact, you stop debating ideas and you start debating conspiracy. ... the reality of what we are now being confronted by every single day."