Health care workers face anti-science abuse. This has to stop.
https://undark.org/2020/04/06/health-wor...ts-firing/
EXCERPT: Anthony Fauci [...] now requires a personal security detail due to a torrent of threats to his safety. The anonymous online sources of those threats absurdly label him a Trump opponent and characterize his public health recommendations to contain the novel coronavirus as inaccurate and reflective of a politicized agenda. These allegations have prompted a stream of bilious online invective against Fauci, with hashtags like #FauciFraud and #FireFauci.
The online smears, threats, and disinformation against a public health official [...] underscore how health workers have become targets for people — official and unofficial, in the U.S. and worldwide — seeking to inhibit and undermine sound, evidence-based medicine that saves lives and alleviates suffering.
The earliest of these threats could be seen in the Chinese government’s persecution of medical whistleblowers in the pandemic’s original epicenter in Wuhan city. [...] Revelations this week that the Chinese government has deliberately misrepresented the severity of the outbreak and its death toll in China perpetuate an environment in which Chinese doctors will continue to have to choose between honoring their professional ethics and risking official reprisals for doing so.
Government threats against health workers urging sound, science-based medical approaches to addressing the pandemic aren’t limited to Chinese authoritarians. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has subjected his health minister [...] to withering criticism and threats ... Bolsonaro has sought to undermine Brazilian states’ lockdown measures ... Other state leaders are demonstrating contempt for the expertise and lives of health workers by ignoring their pleas for a more robust state response to the worldwide shortages of medical personal protective equipment (PPE) ... An egregious example of this callous disregard came last week from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte...
Such politicized, anti-science backlash against health workers seeking to contain a deadly public health threat have disturbing and far-reaching implications — and they are everywhere. Even in the U.S., reports have surfaced of hospital staff being threatened with firing if they speak out publicly about the lack of resources... And it’s not just threats...
This is a time when we need our health workers to be fully engaged in their work and to have their fears and concerns given the highest consideration. [...] We need to stand with the doctors, nurses, public health specialists, and others who are leading efforts to address the pandemic. And that requires ensuring that medical science, public health best practices — and the professional health workers who implement them — are supported, not threatened or silenced... (MORE - details)
5G: What’s behind the latest COVID conspiracy theory?
https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/b...cy-theory/
INTRO: First they blamed GMOs. Then biowarfare. Now a new COVID conspiracy theory is making the rounds, purportedly linking the ongoing global pandemic with the rollout of 5G communications networks. Where did this theory originate, and what is the “evidence” offered by believers?
https://undark.org/2020/04/06/health-wor...ts-firing/
EXCERPT: Anthony Fauci [...] now requires a personal security detail due to a torrent of threats to his safety. The anonymous online sources of those threats absurdly label him a Trump opponent and characterize his public health recommendations to contain the novel coronavirus as inaccurate and reflective of a politicized agenda. These allegations have prompted a stream of bilious online invective against Fauci, with hashtags like #FauciFraud and #FireFauci.
The online smears, threats, and disinformation against a public health official [...] underscore how health workers have become targets for people — official and unofficial, in the U.S. and worldwide — seeking to inhibit and undermine sound, evidence-based medicine that saves lives and alleviates suffering.
The earliest of these threats could be seen in the Chinese government’s persecution of medical whistleblowers in the pandemic’s original epicenter in Wuhan city. [...] Revelations this week that the Chinese government has deliberately misrepresented the severity of the outbreak and its death toll in China perpetuate an environment in which Chinese doctors will continue to have to choose between honoring their professional ethics and risking official reprisals for doing so.
Government threats against health workers urging sound, science-based medical approaches to addressing the pandemic aren’t limited to Chinese authoritarians. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has subjected his health minister [...] to withering criticism and threats ... Bolsonaro has sought to undermine Brazilian states’ lockdown measures ... Other state leaders are demonstrating contempt for the expertise and lives of health workers by ignoring their pleas for a more robust state response to the worldwide shortages of medical personal protective equipment (PPE) ... An egregious example of this callous disregard came last week from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte...
Such politicized, anti-science backlash against health workers seeking to contain a deadly public health threat have disturbing and far-reaching implications — and they are everywhere. Even in the U.S., reports have surfaced of hospital staff being threatened with firing if they speak out publicly about the lack of resources... And it’s not just threats...
This is a time when we need our health workers to be fully engaged in their work and to have their fears and concerns given the highest consideration. [...] We need to stand with the doctors, nurses, public health specialists, and others who are leading efforts to address the pandemic. And that requires ensuring that medical science, public health best practices — and the professional health workers who implement them — are supported, not threatened or silenced... (MORE - details)
5G: What’s behind the latest COVID conspiracy theory?
https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/b...cy-theory/
INTRO: First they blamed GMOs. Then biowarfare. Now a new COVID conspiracy theory is making the rounds, purportedly linking the ongoing global pandemic with the rollout of 5G communications networks. Where did this theory originate, and what is the “evidence” offered by believers?