The uniquely deadly American path on #COVID19 was set early. @GYamey and I wrote about this in late April. First, WHO, which deserves some criticism of its response said this on January 23rd: 2/https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1643 …
-
-
Show this thread
-
“Be prepared,” WHO said, “for containment, including active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of onward spread." Some countries acted. WE DID NOT. 3/
Show this thread -
.
@GYamey & Dean Jamison detail this further here. I think some writers are frankly "bored" of this founding narrative. But@realDonaldTrump's actions led the virus to flourish across the US, seeding itself in every corner of our country. 4/https://time.com/5850680/u-s-response-covid-19-worse-than-chinas/ …Show this thread -
Because all public health is local in some ways, some of the blame has to go to mayors and governors. Let's start with NYC, where I lived for many years. 5/
Show this thread -
I was getting calls from panicked colleagues early on.
@NYCMayor ignored the advice of@NYCHealthCommr for too long, with assurances from@DrKatzNYCHH that NYC had enough hospital capacity to handle a 'surge,' etc. The story gets told here: 6/https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/03/28/de-blasios-coronavirus-crisis-1269480 …Show this thread -
And it is not until April (April, folks!) that the laggard governors in Florida, Georgia and Mississippi finally shutdown their states. 8/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/opinion/coronavirus-desantis-trump.html …
Show this thread -
This is where
@Yascha_Mounk's insistence that "everybody" failed, there is enough responsibility to go around starts to look like revisionist history. 9/Show this thread -
Let say it all together, in unison. The federal response to the pandemic was and is a shit-show, while the state and local responses were just terrible in some places and yes, good in others, but these founding events set us on our path. 10/
Show this thread -
Now let's talk about re-opening. If the early events seeded
#SARSCoV2 in every nook and cranny of this country, the reopening were the gasoline on the fire. Many public health experts were freaking out in early May about the rush to re-open. 11/https://www.npr.org/2020/05/09/853052174/public-health-experts-say-many-states-are-opening-too-soon-to-do-so-safely …Show this thread -
And though
@Yascha_Mounk talks about Fox News' current downplaying of risks, he doesn't really articulate the role of the network, its amplification of@realDonaldTrump's just batshit crazy pronouncements from the start and real risks this created. 12/https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-is-downplaying-the-coronavirus-to-more-vulnerable-audience-2020-2 …Show this thread -
The Fox New phenomenon was so important that people started studying it. 13/ https://www.npr.org/local/309/2020/05/04/849109486/study-finds-more-c-o-v-i-d-19-cases-among-viewers-of-fox-news-host-who-downplayed-pandemic …
Show this thread -
Yet, Americans showed tremendous generosity & solidarity in social distancing, but we NEVER provided them with the support they needed to weather the storm, keep it up. We left people Alone Against the Virus as
@akapczynski and I wrote in early March. 14/https://bostonreview.net/class-inequality-science-nature/amy-kapczynski-gregg-gonsalves-alone-against-virus …Show this thread -
.
@Yascha_Mounk thinks "we were on the brink of doing something incredible," pointing to this generosity, solidarity of "many ordinary citizens who lived up to their moral responsibility in an extraordinary moment." 15/Show this thread -
But what
@Yascha_Mounk doesn't see or acknowledge is that the die was cast this winter. If many of us were hunkering down then, our leaders told us not to worry, and too many of us waited too long or never were able to go to ground at the peak of the pandemic in early spring. 16/Show this thread -
I'd ask
@Yascha_Mounk to think what if#JacindaArdern#AngelaMerkel or any of a dozen other leaders who rallied their countries to a more effective, comprehensive response, was at the helm in the US. 17/https://www.vox.com/2020/5/21/21263766/coronavirus-women-leaders-germany-new-zealand-taiwan-merkel …Show this thread -
“The coronavirus is currently dramatically changing our lives...Our understanding of normality, of public life, of social togetherness; all this is being tested as never before..." 18/ https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/angela-merkel-nails-coronavirus-speech-unlike-trump.html …
Show this thread -
“I firmly believe that we will manage this task if all citizens see it as their task,” Merkel said. “This is serious. Take it seriously.” 19/https://carnegieeurope.eu/2020/03/24/why-merkel-s-coronavirus-address-matters-pub-81357 …
Show this thread -
So, as hard as many of us all tried to stop the virus early on, we never got to the place were we had a truly, national response, a shutdown strong enough, with policies in place to cushion its impact like Denmark and others put into effect. 20/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/denmark-freezing-its-economy-should-us/608533/ …
Show this thread -
So, no,
@Yascha_Mounk we were not on the cusp of something incredible, not through any fault of our own, as ordinary Americans, but because of the folly, ignorance, malign narcissism of our leaders, who worked against us at every step. Full stop. 21/Show this thread -
Even China where a totalitarian government can force a severe shutdown is seeing a resurgence of cases in some spots, our piecemeal, too little, too late response set us up for this sustained plateau of infections, deaths. 22/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/world/coronavirus-usa-world.html …
Show this thread -
Now I want to talk about us in public health, to us in public health. I am not interested in setting us up as heroes, but here I think
@Yascha_Mounk gets it wrong too. 23/Show this thread -
So, many of us sounded the alarm about
@CDCDirector back around the time of his appointment. 24/https://www.poz.com/article/amid-criticism-hiv-researcher-robert-redfield-named-director-cdc …Show this thread -
We knew then and we knew this winter that this man wouldn't rise to a challenge, he didn't have the experience or skills, had questionable judgment, but more importantly was too beholden to the
@WhiteHouse and@VP to ever tell them bad news. 25/Show this thread -
We heard a few times from the talented line staff at
@CDCgov, people like@DrNancyM_CDC, but the entire agency was sidelined early on. 26/https://www.cjr.org/analysis/cdc-pandemic-transparency-comment-access.php …Show this thread -
And yes, the rollout of
#COVID19 testing in the US was as disaster aided by the bungling at the@US_FDA. 27/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2020/04/03/coronavirus-cdc-test-kits-public-health-labs/?arc404=true …Show this thread -
Should people of good conscience have resigned during this period, scientists at
@CDCgov@NIH? "I know, but what do you want me to do? I mean, seriously Jon, let’s get real, what do you want me to do?" 28/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/i-m-going-keep-pushing-anthony-fauci-tries-make-white-house-listen-facts-pandemic …Show this thread -
So to
@Yascha_Mounk: there is a clear history here for people to see and no, it's not all experts and institutions that failed. In fact, by saying it's "everyone," of us, it's just saying "no one", no individual(s) is (are) responsible. The general claim obscures the truth. 29/Show this thread -
So, what do we do now? It was clear as all states re-opened that the "shutdowns" were over for good. This is from May 3rd in Atlanta. 30/https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/piedmont-park-other-metro-parks-crowded-after-shelter-in-place-order-expires/WUPMKZSBLBB3JADU6UMGCBK3RU/ …
Show this thread -
This is why public health folks were panicking then. It's hard to put the genie back in the bottle once it's out. 31/
Show this thread - Show replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.