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gregggonsalves

@gregggonsalves@med-mastodon.com

Epidemiologist. Activist. Drugs and Bugs.

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gregggonsalves , to random
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John Moore, virologist/immunologist from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in NYC and I take the #NYTimes to task for two opinion pieces on #COVID earlier this month. Both pieces are examples of "science opinion", where non-experts weigh in on topics beyond their ken. #epidemiology #infectiousdisease https://www.thenation.com/article/society/nyt-covid-opinion-coverage/

gregggonsalves , to random
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The way university trustees have decided to embrace crackdowns on students, overrule faculty on allowing student graduation (e.g., Harvard), voluntarily adopt "neutrality" in a time of crisis, call for limits on free speech should send shivers down your spine. H/T Tim Snyder (text)/Ralph Lazar (graphics).

Graphic by Ralph Lazar of "Do Not Obey in Advance" and text from Tim Snyder's 2017 book Twenty Lessons on Fighting Tyranny from the Twentieth Century: "Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do."
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    • gregggonsalves , to random
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    You may have opinions on COVID19 origins, but Eddie Holmes brings the evidence. He's one of the world's top scientists working on viral emergence. This is worth, actually required, reading for anyone interested in the subject. There will be a quiz afterwards. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-virology-093022-013037

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    In the annals of the most disgusting things done during the COVID-19 pandemic, this is now at the top of my list. It is odious.
    https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    I am glad @gorskon takes the time to deconstruct the complete fiasco that was the NY Times op-ed on COVID origins this week. Kathleen Kingsbury, Patrick Healy & Times' columnists like Nick Kristof who amplified this nonsense should be ashamed. https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2024/06/08/the-new-york-times-goes-all-in-on-lab-leak/

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    The New York Times has really done it this time. Publishing a piece on the lab leak theory is just terrible editorial judgment. Did they talk to ANY of their science reporters? Talk to anyone who works on viral emergence & origins? If they did, they'd have been warned that the evidence here is lacking to say the least. This is clickbait for the Fauci hearings this week. It is disgusting.

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Watching H5N1 extend its host range, now show respiratory symptoms in a human case, should concern us all. We are whistling past the graveyard, not remotely prepared for what comes next. Perhaps H5N1 will not acquire the mutations necessary to ensure efficient human-to-human transmission, but counting on good fortune is not a strategy.

    Adam Kucharski " If we were to observe the gradual emergence of a new pandemic pathogen (which hasn’t been possible historically), these are the sort of signals we could expect to see... &3 BNO News & @BNOFeed - May 30 CDC statement on Michigan's 2nd human case of H5N1 (o][ (e R{[VR This patient - a dairy worker - is reporting upper respiratory tract symptoms including cough, which di... CDC Confirms Second Human H5 Bird Flu Case in Michigan; Third Case Tied to Dairy Outbreak Risk to general public remains low May 30, 2024 — A second human case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5) virus infection has been identified in the state of Michigan. This is the third human case associated with an ongoing multistate outbreak of A(HSN1) in U.S. dairy cows. None of the three cases are associated with the others. As with the previous two cases (one in Texas, one in Michigan), the person is a dairy farm worker with exposure to infected cows, making this another instance of probable cow-to-person spread. This is the first human case of H5 in the United States to report more typical
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    gregggonsalves , to random
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    With Harvard's announcement on institutional neutrality, I urge you to read Yale Law's Robert Post's piece on the subject where he also warns "advocacy of institutional neutrality is associated with conservative efforts to cabin institutions of higher education." https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4516235

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    This is some great reporting from Jeremy Margolis at the Concord Monitor. Governor Sununu conspired with college leaders to send in militarized police based on false charges and characterizations of protests. https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2024-05-23/emails-show-unh-leaders-wanted-to-quell-pro-palestine-encampment-for-graduation

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    If you are cheering on the violence of police against students and faculty, the disciplinary actions against students without due process, just realize which side you are on now. It's with the dictators, the authoritarians, the demagogues. It can happen here. https://www.saih.no/en/nyheter/attacks-on-student-activism-is-an-indicator-of-democratic-backsliding

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    This is disproportionate, capricious and unjust. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/12/metro/mit-encampment-protesters-suspended/?event=event12

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    This piece by Rick Perlstein may be the best analysis of the current moment. Far more thoughtful than anything else I've read. Read and share: "The New Anti-Antisemitism: the response to college protests against the war on Gaza exemplifies the darkness of the Trumpocene." https://americanprospect.bluelena.io/index.php?action=social&chash=c4f796afbc6267501964b46427b3f6ba.2708&s=29b9f9a5745d23de79eae7a288e3ddd6

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    "The escalating authoritarianism we’re witnessing in the crackdown on college campuses is, in part, a byproduct of a media system that fails to hold powerful interests accountable for the lies they tell." https://www.freepress.net/blog/student-reporters-campus-protests-gaza

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    From Jack Mirkinson at The Nation: "The answer is this: You dare because that is how the world changes. And make no mistake, the world is changing now. All the cops in the world can’t stop that." https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/columbia-ccny-cuny-protest-nypd-police-brutality/

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    College administrators are falling into a tried and true trap laid by the right. https://theconversation.com/college-administrators-are-falling-into-a-tried-and-true-trap-laid-by-the-right-228732

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    So, Jason Stanley is a colleague here at Yale. He's been writing on fascism for several years now. His next book is on fascism and the university. Whatever you think of the protests, they are being used to set up students and professors as internal enemies of the state. https://grabien.com/file?id=2391545

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Mikhael Manekin took me to Hebron many years ago now. If I feel any affinity in this moment it is with people like him, even though I am a non-Jew and an atheist. https://jewishcurrents.org/israels-emerging-religious-left

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Nearly 300 @Yale faculty condemn the criminalization of @Yale students engaged in acts of peaceful protest. @Yale
    must drop all charges, take no disciplinary action against those arrested, and respect peaceable speech and assembly on campus.
    https://docs.google.com/document/d/13GB02wTUpCBNlQLBjrdEf53WCxDhPdZNnzIqppdXOM8/edit?usp=sharing

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    My latest for the Nation: The Covid Revisionists Are Endangering Us All: As the possibility of a new pandemic looms, influential figures are telling us we shouldn’t have been so worried about the last one. This spells trouble. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/covid-revisionism-next-pandemic/

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    My piece for the Yale Daily News.
    "Protest on campus is part of higher education, despite what some of my own colleagues would like to think. It is preparation for citizenship and active participation in democracy; it is learning about moral choices that face us as adults; it is about bearing witness and about putting our own bodies on the line and not remaining silent in the face of injustice."
    @Yale https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/04/24/gonsalves-on-the-arrests-of-yale-students-in-new-haven/

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Bret Stephens' column in the @nytimes this morning on unsubstantiated claims of a physical attack @Yale is a case in point. Stephens is weaponizing anti-semitism for political gain and making our campuses less safe.

    https://forward.com/opinion/605875/campus-protests-antisemitism-student-fears/?utm_source=The+Forward+Association&utm_campaign=209a981a26-AfternoonEditionNL_%2A%7CDATE%3AYmd%7C%2A_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-878b15fee9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    What kind of person thirsts for another Kent State? https://kevinmkruse.substack.com/p/bloodlust

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Of course, panic is counter-productive, but over-confidence is equally dangerous. We were told we were among the most well-prepared nations when COVID hit. That didn't work out for us in the end. Best to face these threats with humility and determination. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/23/bird-flu-h5n1-plan-pandemic/

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Over-confidence is not useful as we have learned from COVID. Wish there was some greater humility here. "The U.S. is prepared for an influenza pandemic, with some stockpiled vaccines and antivirals, but its efforts at monitoring the virus may not pick it up quickly enough to deploy those tools." https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/health/birdflu-marine-mammals.html

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Many students at these protests are Jewish and see the protests as central to the notion of tikkun olam. It is important that the @NYTimes is covering this as others in the media seek to abet the right's attempts to demonize these protesters as anti-semitic. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/us/campus-protest-seders.html

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    A Passover seder at the protests at Yale. Many Jewish students are part of these demonstrations despite what Fox News will tell you.

    gregggonsalves OP ,
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    OK. This looks like Columbia. But see NY Times piece for seder at Yale.

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    What Peter Salovey did this morning in arresting Yale students was a choice. Leaders before him thought differently about campus protest. https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/27/nyregion/apartheid-protest-at-yale-takes-some-new-turns.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    For everyone who cheered on Elise Stefanik today, remember who she is. Stefanik's hometown newspaper has her number. It's time to stop thinking she cares anything about antisemitism. She cares about only one thing: what will advance her political career in Trump's GOP. https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Editorial-How-low-Ms-Stefanik-16465746.php

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    I really don't know who Uri Berliner is, but he gets it wrong on COVID19 origins. He castigates NPR's reporting on the subject for not giving ample credence to the lab leak theory, when in fact, it is less-well supported by the data. He wants us to talk "both sides" to show his independent bona fides when it simply speaks to his scientific ignorance.

    gregggonsalves OP ,
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    Here is a great NPR piece on the issues. Well-reported. Uri Berliner is a know-nothing. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/28/1160162845/what-does-the-science-say-about-the-origin-of-the-sars-cov-2-pandemic

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Here is a recording of Madhu Pai's brilliant Keynote Address - Building Equity in Global Health: The Role for Global North Actors at the Yale Institute for Global Health Symposium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12bSY66PZuU

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Nice piece by CDC Director Mandy Cohen in NEJM on Integrating Public Health & Health Care. However, the relationship between public health & healthcare isn't that simple. First, a piece on the medicalization of public health and the consequences of that move. 1/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2791244/

    gregggonsalves OP ,
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    Now, along with public health being essentially taken over by physicians and slated as a poor relative of biomedicine, we've seen the rise of the financialization of medicine. This piece by the great Don Berwick, puts it bluntly. 2/ https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2801097

    gregggonsalves OP ,
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    And let's face it, medicine is vastly, vastly more well supported than public health. This creates a problem that isn't just solved by "partnerships." The late Elizabeth Fee described this 20 years ago. We simply do not invest in public health. 3/ https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.21.6.31

    gregggonsalves OP ,
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    So, yes, we need to talk about the relationship between public health & healthcare, but if you do not talk about the role of politics, money & power that are central to how both fields are constructed in this country, this is just happy talk. There are structural problems we need to face now. end/

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Donald Moynihan at Georgetown has talked about how you bring down the administrative state--it is also a template for how to destroy public health in America. Delegitimize. Deconstruct. Control. 3 horsemen of our slow motion public health catastrophe in the US. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/undermining-public-health/

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    Such an overwhelming response to our letter to the next President of Yale University. Now 164 faculty members have signed. If you are a Yale faculty member you can sign at link below, and spread the word. Higher education is under attack. Demagogues are on the march. (the link here will take you to sign on and the full text with all signatories). https://forms.gle/Meuz9SEae4qHUwfK9

    gregggonsalves , to random
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    DeSantis has the distinction of doing more damage to the public health probably than any other sitting governor and will continue to do so. Dropping out doesn't undo the mess he has made.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/04/desantis-surgeon-general-vaccine-misinformation/

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