We often get shoehorned into inappropriate binaries. Optimist or pessimist? (I'll admit being an optimist personality-wise but my analytical interests are usually the opposite: I'm on the lookout for what can go wrong). The interesting questions we face don't fit into binaries.
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@joshgans response to my article: Medical community *opposed* teaching kids 1-4 how to swim because... it would make the parents complacent. Meanwhile, in real life, lessons at that age is associated with an ~88% reduction in drowning risk. https://joshuagans.substack.com/p/optimal-anxiety …pic.twitter.com/ejBRE1tGVn
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This logic of denying safety devices/tools or tiered information or better guidelines to ordinary people against terrible outcomes they *would* like to avoid because of fears of "risk compensation" or "false sense of security" is.. almost always bunk *and* counterproductive.
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zeynep tufekci Retweeted zeynep tufekci
Randomized trials are amazing and necessary for many things, but what gets implemented without them (despite no evidence) and what doesn't (despite tons of other kinds of strong evidence) is often.. a function of what the authorities feel comfortable with.https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1366385652636475394 …
zeynep tufekci added,
zeynep tufekciVerified account @zeynepReplying to @joshgansAmazing how the evidentiary standards shift when it comforts the authorities. Implement needle exchanges? "No, where's the RCT?" Teach kids to swim to protect against drowning? "Here's some theory I made up". Of course swimming helps against drowning. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4151293/ …8 replies 38 retweets 224 likesShow this thread -
zeynep tufekci Retweeted Covid One Year Ago
Painful account to follow, but important to learn from what actually happened.https://twitter.com/YearCovid/status/1366400080098459654 …
zeynep tufekci added,
Covid One Year Ago @YearCovid29 Feb 2020 "You do NOT need to get or wear any face masks- surgical masks, N95 masks, respirator masks, or anything else- to protect yourself against the coronavirus. Not only do you not need them, you shouldn’t wear them" https://web.archive.org/web/20200301071220if_/https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2020/02/29/no-you-do-not-need-face-masks-for-coronavirus-they-might-increase-your-infection-risk/ … pic.twitter.com/LAPLU89tfy8 replies 89 retweets 282 likesShow this thread -
zeynep tufekci Retweeted Pete Muntean
This is amazing. This should happen everywhere in the world. I wish we actively celebrated these moving moments. This isn’t just some routine event. Vaccines are about as close to an earthly miracle as it gets. And we got them so fast for COVID.https://twitter.com/petemuntean/status/1366442688296456192 …
zeynep tufekci added,
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Every time I go on media and say the obvious: outdoors IS safer with much less risk of superspreading (I don't know of a single confirmed outdoor-only mass transmission event) many people object and say Rose Garden! Sturgis! Neither were outdoor only. The price of misinformation.
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The immediate backlash to pointing out the most basic, most obvious thing after a whole year—yes, yes, please go outdoors, but do avoid especially poorly-ventilated, crowded indoors—is a tragic confirmation of what I'm trying to say. We have not informed and empowered people.
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zeynep tufekci Retweeted zeynep tufekci
We have pictures from the White House cluster—it was a multi-day process with multiple maskless (!) indoor components. We have papers from the Sturgis rally—what infection we did find was indoors. Outdoor transmission isn't impossible, but relatively rare.https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1363522936431345666 …
zeynep tufekci added,
zeynep tufekciVerified account @zeynepTo the people telling me about the Sturgis rally. Forget the trad/social media moral panic—and the speculative reporting & headlines. We have actual papers. The event had a huge indoor component & what spread we do know happened in restaurants/workplaces. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6947e1.htm#T1_down … pic.twitter.com/cD8jDxLZpMShow this thread4 replies 35 retweets 234 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @zeynep
I genuinely wonder if there is any real risk from eg an extended conversation outdoors unmasked at 3 feet. I still wear a mask in those situations but not convinced it’s needed.
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Conversation increases the risk, so the prudent thing to do is to wear a mask even if outdoors. I wouldn't worry about a fleeting encounter (someone walking by) but extended conversation or shouting (especially at night and from close distance) is higher risk.
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