Thinking about our tools, ourselves. @UNCSILS prof+@NYTimes writer. Columns:@SciAm @Wired. Book:https://t.co/j57eEmRHYw Sign-up: https://t.co/AuuEUHWn84
@GovHowardDean A few people getting mild COVID—essentially a cold—even after vaccination is to be expected—we do not have a single vaccine that doesn't occasionally suffer from breakthrough cases. However, when we can reduce the disease burden globally to another cold, the pandemic is over.
@WillOremus @davegillisT @mtaibbihe speed and strength with which things flip from "prescient " to "obvious " in a blink, and then how most everyone forgets and denies the before, is probably my strongest pandemic conclusion and surprise. I knew it happened, of course, but wow... So dunno.
Pfizer expects to *double* it's weekly US production and deliver 120 million doses just in the next 6 weeks. We have 600 million mRNA doses scheduled by end of July. J&J VRBPAC meeting today. Things can go wrong, but it's time to talk about and act on *new* challenges we'll face.
The pandemic is an unwelcome, tragic societal stress test. We should learn from it and work to fix the cracks that were revealed especially since the lessons apply broadly. New piece analyzing five key pitfalls that hampered us—and how to move forward.
TIL from @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.
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Wow. A nursing home in Baltimore, oldest African-American one, did not lose *a single person* to COVID because as soon as they heard Trump say cases would soon go to zero, they realized it was going to be a catastrophe, stopped visits and masked up.
A study from Korea showing why indoor dining is unsafe and why airborne transmission matters. Case B infected case A from 6.5m (~21 feet!) away in *just five minutes*, and case C from 4.8m (15 feet!). Footage shows no interaction—and only those in line of air flow got infected.
Facebook's own researchers found that “64% of all extremist group joins are due to our recommendation tools" and that “our recommendation systems grow the problem.” Facebook VP for policy Joel Kaplan (known for throwing a party for Kavanaugh after confirmation) nixed any action.
Hong Kong protests are in their fifth month despite an escalating crackdown. How? One surprising answer: the fate of China's Uyghurs. Many talked to me about it. They watched and learned. They've decided that they "may as well go down fighting." My latest.
Really, really need a large-scale analysis of use (and non-use) of mug-shots for victims and perpetrators.
❗️Did you know that *study after study* finds most people don't seem to transmit COVID at all? That a small percent is responsible for almost all infections? That R is not that informative? My new piece on why this may be key to controlling the pandemic.
Trump was incompetent at his brand of authoritarianism, and he lost. But this isn't a triumph: the Democrats lost almost everything else. Make no mistake, about what's coming: The next Trumpist, in 2024, will be talented, competent and not easy to beat.
Amazing study, supporting droplet (rather than aerosol) as key means of transmission. One asymptomatic person infected 10 (out of 91) at restaurant—but *only* if they were in direct line of air pushed by the A/C. (Aerosol would have infected others, too).
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