STAT News: Biden administration unveils dashboard to track nonfatal drug overdoses

STAT News: Biden administration unveils dashboard to track nonfatal drug overdoses. “The Biden administration is rolling out a new tool meant to help prevent drug deaths: a nationwide database that tracks nonfatal overdoses. The dashboard, known as the Non-Fatal Opioid Overdose Surveillance Tracker, will offer fresh insights about overdose rates, the drug supply, and the effectiveness of local emergency response efforts, the White House said.”

New York Times: How Dan Price’s Social Media Fame Fueled Abuse Allegations

New York Times: How Dan Price’s Social Media Fame Fueled Abuse Allegations. “Mr. Price’s internet fame has enabled a pattern of abuse in his personal life and hostile behavior at his company, interviews with more than 50 people, documents and police reports show. He has used his celebrity to pursue women online who say he hurt them, both physically and emotionally. Ms. [Kacie] Margis is one of more than a dozen women who spoke to The New York Times about predatory encounters with Mr. Price.”

Washington Post: Fauci swamped by angry calls over beagle experiments after campaign that included misleading image

Washington Post: Fauci swamped by angry calls over beagle experiments after campaign that included misleading image. “Anthony S. Fauci was swamped by so many angry messages and threats that in late October his assistant quit answering the phone for two weeks. The U.S. covid chief got 3,600 phone calls in 36 hours, just as he and other Biden administration officials were preparing for the campaign to vaccinate young children. Much of the onslaught stemmed from a viral and false claim that the agency Fauci leads, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had funded a medical experiment in which beagles were trapped in mesh cages filled with diseased sand flies, according to four National Institutes of Health officials familiar with the calls.”

Axios: Unruly customers threaten economic recovery

Axios: Unruly customers threaten economic recovery. “The pace of the economic recovery hinges in part on workers returning to jobs that involve dealing with an unpredictable public. But many of those workers say increasingly combative customers — angry about everything from long wait times to mask mandates — have prompted them to quit.”

St. Louis public health leader said a mob called him racist slurs for promoting masks: ‘We are not the enemy’ (Washington Post)

Washington Post: St. Louis public health leader said a mob called him racist slurs for promoting masks: ‘We are not the enemy’. “When Faisal Khan left the St. Louis County council meeting Tuesday after promoting a new mask mandate, he said he was shoulder-bumped and pushed by people in the aisle. When he made it through the door, the St. Louis County Department of Health’s acting director said things got worse. Khan was surrounded by an ‘angry mob,’ he said, and called the c-word and a brown b—–d. Others mocked his accent.”

Axios: Ex-Twitter CEO: I’m sorry

Axios: Ex-Twitter CEO: I’m sorry. “Dick Costolo, the former CEO of Twitter, said today during the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles that he missed an opportunity to stop bullying on the platform. In short, it proved to be a very complicated problem (‘lots of edge cases’) and he got distracted by other things…” This is nice but I’d like him to also apologize for how third party developers were treated by Twitter during his tenure.

Twitter Adds Yet More Tools in an Attempt to Curb Abuse

Twitter is adding new tools in an attempt to curb abuse. Not feeling especially heartened as Twitter doesn’t seem to do a lot with the reporting tools it has now. Unless you’re famous or get a lot of media coverage. “Users will be able filter out certain keywords, phrases, user names, and hashtags in their mentions, Twitter says. You’ll also have the option to mute threads. The company is also revamping its abuse reporting system so that bystanders can report harassment and hate speech directly rather than leaving that option solely to the person on the receiving end.”