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A new year. Not much has changed, but there is at least a partial sense of renewal, a chance at a fresh start, which our country desperately needs. Last year brought out the worst in us. I am more easily provoked, and quicker to frustration. I have to stop myself more. (1/12
Some of it is necessary. I am less tolerant of bullshit, as so many of us have to be. There is too much circulating, preventing us from spreading real knowledge. This doesn’t apply to genuine questions - but we must shut down trolling and clickbaity Google-shattered BS (2/12)
Mistakes WILL be made. We’ve watched science change and develop in real time. The messaging on masks had to change, and our lockdown predictions unfortunately did not pan out as this virus revealed itself to be more contagious and deadly than we ever imagined. (3/12)
The evolving messaging on masks felt, to some, like it kept changing on whims and it drove people to conspiracy theories. Others made up agencies, medical conditions, and “regulations” to justify a disregard for measures to protect others. We must leave that in 2020. (4/12)
Last year saw an overflow of sociopolitical unrest as well. I’m not the voice to discuss decades-long racism/injustice that erupted into protests, which then got hijacked by external actors who muddied the message with violence...but I am learning to amplify the right voices.(5/
Instead, so many of us must become aware of how ingrained racism and other prejudices are in the US. Not the overt slurs or out-loud insults, but the prejudices we don’t even know about, that feed into the system/create roadblocks for women, Black people, LGBTQ+, and more.(6/12)
Again, mistakes will be made. We who are just learning of these prejudices, trying to understand new perspectives, WILL falter. We will get called on it (as we should) which can feel like an attack. Instead, we should examine ourselves and ask “how can I do better?” (7/12)
2020 also showed that some things merit a federal response. W/o that, the pandemic has raged for 10 mos. Gov’s get praised for endangering citizens by ignoring precautions while those who tried to protect their state were labeled dictators (even as their states did better). (8/
We STILL don’t have enough testing/tracing. We need to be able to accurately track cases/deaths, and to see if the vaccine reduces transmission. Not to mention our vaccine distribution has been paltry compared to expectations and estimates. We desperately need a better plan.(9/12
2020 also showed us that institutional praise is often hollow. HCWs were praised as before even as we were accused of taking COVID bribes and faking diagnoses while we faced the worst understaffing and worst death tolls of our careers. (10/12)
We saw fellow HCWs influenced by secondary gain peddle misinfo to tell people what they want to hear, undermining the actual science. We were told when we begged people to take precautions as we sacrificed time, home life, and our lives, “you signed up for this.” We didn’t.(11/)
There are a lot of lessons we can take from last year’s dumpster fire. If we are going to survive until enough people can be vaccinated to return to pre-pandemic behavior, hindsight must be 2020. Damn right, this thread originated from a pun.(12/12)
