Wall Street Journal: More Than 1,000 Current and Former CDC Officers Criticize U.S. Covid-19 Response. “More than 1,000 current and former officers of an elite disease-fighting program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have signed an open letter expressing dismay at the nation’s public-health response to the Covid-19 pandemic and calling for the federal agency to play a more central role.”
expertise
Trusted Sources of Information about COVID-19: What We’re Watching and Following (Union of Concerned Scientists)
Union of Concerned Scientists: Trusted Sources of Information about COVID-19: What We’re Watching and Following. “Are you, too, looking for reliable and trustworthy information about COVID-19 and the pandemic? Here at the Union of Concerned Scientists, we’ve assembled a team of scientists, researchers, and public health and communications experts from across the organization who have been tracking and responding to the ongoing public health crisis since February, especially when we see political interference in science-based decision making.”
Slate: Three of the Most Prestigious Scientific Journals Have Condemned Trump’s Handling of COVID-19
Slate: Three of the Most Prestigious Scientific Journals Have Condemned Trump’s Handling of COVID-19. “Many saw these clear condemnations of the U.S. government’s COVID-19 response as a stark departure from the science journals’ normal purview. The editorials come on the heels of Scientific American’s endorsement of Joe Biden—a first in its 175-year-history—so the idea of scientists taking a stand on politics is currently fresh in the public’s mind. But unlike the popular science magazine, Nature, Science, and NEJM are all known for publishing impactful original academic research, making it seem all the more surprising that they’d wade into political commentary.”
MIT Technology Review: One doctor’s campaign to stop a covid-19 vaccine being rushed through before Election Day
MIT Technology Review: One doctor’s campaign to stop a covid-19 vaccine being rushed through before Election Day. “After being released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 5, US President Donald Trump praised the doctors who treated him for covid-19 and promised that the public would soon have a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus. ‘We have the best medicines in the world, and very shortly they are all getting approved, and the vaccines are coming momentarily,’ he said in a video statement shared with millions of Twitter followers. Across the country, in California, a doctor named Eric Topol was responding in real time on social media. He questioned the president’s health, his doctors’ actions, and even his mental status.”
The Guardian: Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including ‘Dr Johnny Bananas’
The Guardian: Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including ‘Dr Johnny Bananas’. “The Great Barrington declaration, which was said to have been signed by more than 15,000 scientists and medical practitioners around the world, was found by Sky News to contain numerous false names, as well as those of several homeopaths. Others listed include a resident at the ‘university of your mum’ and another supposed specialist whose name was the first verse of the Macarena.”
The Canberra Times: When a search engine’s the easy way out
The Canberra Times: When a search engine’s the easy way out. “Information has become so easily accessible, so addictive, it’s now the conversational equivalent of junk food, undigested chymus cycling through a common digestive tract encircling the entire planet. We gorge and we defecate. A little bit of knowledge is, of course, a dangerous thing but what’s the result when we begin to hold knowledge in such contempt it loses its primacy? How dangerous is that?”
SwissInfo: Swiss health experts sign letter wary of herd immunity claims
SwissInfo: Swiss health experts sign letter wary of herd immunity claims. “Amid rising Covid-19 cases in Switzerland, five experts have signed a letter in the Lancet warning that a pandemic management strategy relying on herd immunity is flawed.”
Covid: Sage scientists called for short lockdown weeks ago (BBC)
BBC: Covid: Sage scientists called for short lockdown weeks ago. “The government’s scientific advisers called for a short lockdown in England to halt the spread of Covid-19 last month, newly released documents show. The experts said an immediate ‘circuit breaker’ was the best way to control cases, at a meeting on 21 September.”
Coronavirus: Health experts join global anti-lockdown movement (BBC)
BBC: Coronavirus: Health experts join global anti-lockdown movement. “Thousands of scientists and health experts have joined a global movement warning of “grave concerns” about Covid-19 lockdown policies. Nearly 6,000 experts, including dozens from the UK, say the approach is having a devastating impact on physical and mental health as well as society. They are calling for protection to be focused on the vulnerable, while healthy people get on with their lives.”
Donald Trump, M.D.: How the President Is Shaping His Own Treatment (TIME)
TIME: Donald Trump, M.D.: How the President Is Shaping His Own Treatment. “Medical doctors warn Trump could still be a few days away from what can the most dangerous part of the COVID-19 disease cycle, called the cytokine storm, when the body’s immune response rages and can overwhelm its own function. ‘He’s a high risk individual and he is now entering a potentially unstable part of his clinical course,’ says Dr. Howard Koh, a Harvard professor on health policy who was a senior health official in the Obama Administration. ‘The last thing we want for his health is to be discharged too early and be readmitted.'”
‘Epidemiologists just wanna vomit’: Doctors disturbed after Trump removes his mask at the White House (Washington Post)
Washington Post: ‘Epidemiologists just wanna vomit’: Doctors disturbed after Trump removes his mask at the White House. “Shortly after being discharged from the hospital treating him for the novel coronavirus, President Trump on Monday climbed onto a White House balcony — and then peeled off his mask to salute Marine One as it flew away. After waving, Trump turned to go inside, still maskless. Following a weekend of mounting horror among medical professionals and commentators fretting over Trump’s handling of his own infection, his actions Monday — particularly removing his mask and walking into a room frequented by White House staff — left them worried and frustrated yet again.”
Science Blog: Do-It-Yourself COVID-19 Vaccines Fraught With Public Health Problems
Science Blog: Do-It-Yourself COVID-19 Vaccines Fraught With Public Health Problems. “As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the globe, several citizen science groups outside the auspices of the pharmaceutical industry have been working to develop and self-test unproven medical interventions to combat COVID-19. Although some of the interest in a DIY approach stems from the idea that self-experimentation can’t be regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other public health authorities, that belief is legally and factually incorrect, said Jacob S. Sherkow, a professor of law at Illinois.”
New York Times: Emails Detail Effort to Silence C.D.C. and Question Its Science
New York Times: Emails Detail Effort to Silence C.D.C. and Question Its Science. “On June 30, as the coronavirus was cresting toward its summer peak, Dr. Paul Alexander, a new science adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services, composed a scathing two-page critique of an interview given by an experienced scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Anne Schuchat, a 32-year veteran of the C.D.C. and its principal deputy director, had appealed to Americans to wear masks and warned, ‘We have way too much virus across the country.’ But Dr. Alexander, a part-time assistant professor of health research methods, appeared sure he understood the coronavirus better.”
Scientific American: A Grassroots Effort to Fight Misinformation During the Pandemic
Scientific American: A Grassroots Effort to Fight Misinformation During the Pandemic. “During the height of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, with misinformation permeating every form of media, members of the public were growing increasingly concerned for their health and seeking answers about the virus, its mode of transmission and how to protect themselves and their loved ones. Five organizations came together, recruited hundreds of volunteer scientists and built a new tool to get the best scientific information in plain language to millions of people around the world. This is the story of that project.”
One size may not fit all: BILH psychiatrists develop mental health app assessment tool (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: One size may not fit all: BILH psychiatrists develop mental health app assessment tool. “About one in five U.S. adults, an estimated 47 million people, lives with a mental illness. Fewer than half of them receive treatment, counseling or medication. In recent years, smartphone apps have emerged as potentially cost-effective means of expanding access to mental healthcare. But with some 10,000 mental health apps — which are not subject to FDA oversight — available in mobile app stores today, the task of determining which apps are safe and effective can seem overwhelming to patients and providers alike.”