I think many of my friends still believe the old dogma, not because they’ve read much about it and are well-informed, but because of anchoring bias. Anchoring bias is a cognitive bias that causes us to rely too much on the first things we learned about a given topic, despite evidence to the contrary. I think it’s why it’s hard to let go of old dietary beliefs, for instance. Those of us old enough to remember, know that we were indoctrinated during the 70s and 80s with nonsense about fat and cholesterol, and many people still believe. Back to Covid: many of my friends have these old habits born of fear, having to do with masks, tests and boosters, and I don’t think they’re ready to let go of them, yet. These people are not the extremists we see on Twitter; they’re just regular people trying to do the right thing.
I think Covid beliefs go far beyond anchoring bias. Perhaps this quote (attributed to Mark Twain) may be more applicable: "It is easier to fool the people than to convince them that they have been fooled."
I don’t understand the continued cognitive dissonance, of individuals and organizations. The hospital I am
employed at is requiring Covid vaccine again this year. But it’s simple to decline with a simple click online for any religious, health or personal reason, explanation not required. So in reality they don’t care if people are getting it or not, but they are “requiring” it anyway. Is this really necessary? Is it a virtue signal? I. Don’t. Get. It.
I think they gave an award to the Santa Clara County tyrant, Sara Cody. CA allowed every county health director to become a total dictator. And the Institute of Public Health gave her a Fellowship. She is proving her continued tyrannical incompetence by requiring masks in all healthcare settings for the next 5 months - from now till eternity. For age TWO to infinity. So old people in hospitals and nursing homes will spend their last days and months never seeing a human face and unable to hear or be heard. Sick children will not be able to see their caregivers or be seen. The mindless cruelty is incredible.
In the end, they will all conclude, we did the best we could. It was all fear based, driven my social media, and a hyperbolic media and press. We have weathered many pandemics in the past 30 years without these Draconian measures. But it does no good, looking for fall guys or boogeymen. I still maintain this is Hanlon's Razor more than anything else. And so highly politicized to our detriment.
I agree that kids should never have been masked, nor should schools have been closed. Again, teachers and parents whipped into a frenzy. Kids in this country are now 2 years behind. That is the sad story.
Will there be any valuable lessons for the future? I doubt it. We do not live in a rational world. Critical thinking is not prized nor taught.
Critical thinking skills are not taught, because the teachers have no critical thinking skills. Not a priority in education programs. Current fad of DEI actually precludes critical thinking as this philosophy would never stand the scrutiny.
We can't let them get away with the 'we did the best we could' because a) They did the worst they could as Vinay lists and b) if we let them do so they will do it again
Vinay, it was a very enjoyable and intellectually stimulating evening. I listened intently to the whole thing online. You are most certainly correct when you ask academics to host more summits like these. Well done. May you participate in many more.
Magnificent! Thank For the Dispatch! Del Rio couldn’t debate is way out of petri dish.Don’t forget he and the equally deranged Uncle Bob “Paxolvid” Wachter relished their unhinged continual covid propaganda—“tis-tis-sing everyone who didn’t wear a face diaper and take weekly boosters!
Off Topic: Dang, I wish I had known you were at Emory this past Monday. I would have run down there just to shake your hand. I love following you and learn how you see things and pull together facts, not hunches, to paint the picture. Thank you.
Near the end of my comment I said my concern was about the risk that asymptomatic children could infect others. I should have said that the worst impact was infecting their primary caregiver who may have significant co-morbidities, especially morbid obesity, which is common in GA. My apologies. I agree with all of the comments that the health of children was not significantly impacted by getting COVID. I also agree that there were negative consequences of social isolation and decreased educational attainment with school closure. But GA lost many caretakers to COVID. Many of Georgia's children became orphans. What is the impact on a child if they lose their mother and/or father? Hospitalization and death from COVID occurred due to many factors. One was asymptomatic transmission of the virus to people with significant co-morbidities. There are tradeoffs with any policy. Part of our decisions is based on probability of the incidence and severity of the disease for that local environment and our value system, i.e. what do we prioritize?
For Dr. Prasad to compare the health outcomes of the United States to Sweden is misleading since he does not consider the effect due to the local environment of that population. The local environment is very different in the Deep South than Sweden. I practice in Atlanta. Georgia has a higher incidence of morbid obesity than Sweden. Morbid obesity is one of the main risk factors for hospitalization/death from COVID. We also have a higher percentage of African Americans that experience inequality of care compared to Sweden. Georgia is one of 10 states that have not fully expanded Medicaid. Georgia’s social drivers of health (housing affordability, transportation accessibility, etc.) contribute to our poor health outcome compared to Sweden’s better social drivers of health resulting in better outcomes per the Commonwealth Fund. I am not concerned about the impact of COVID on the healthy pediatric population, but as asymptomatic carriers to others with high co-morbidities. I work with economists who have reminded me frequently that the local environment can change the effect of a policy from a positive effect for the average of the population to a negative effect for a specific population given their local environment. Economist will even go to the microlevel such a zip codes to determine the effect of a policy on that specific population. I agree with many of Dr. Prasad’s conclusions on other topics. I also believe that many schools closed for too long a period, especially after the COVID vaccine became available. And perhaps in certain local environments, schools did not need to close. Dr. Prasad is intelligent and has significantly more education in biostatistics that majority of his readers. But I believe if Dr. Prasad had received a PhD in economics, he would not overstate his conclusion that are based on comparing Sweden's and the U.S. health outcomes. It is a simplification of a complex issue. Researchers are evaluating the micro date of social impact and health outcomes of COVID so we can make more informed decisions when the next pandemic comes. I applaud them.
Even with all that Covid was extremely low risk to kids. Also, what we did made kids fatter! Not to mention all the other negatives for kids. Third, this whole “we shouldn’t have closed schools for as long” reads as cope to me. Sober adults should have known better. Just like the economy, an entire public education system is not something that can be switched off and on by a light switch.
I think many of my friends still believe the old dogma, not because they’ve read much about it and are well-informed, but because of anchoring bias. Anchoring bias is a cognitive bias that causes us to rely too much on the first things we learned about a given topic, despite evidence to the contrary. I think it’s why it’s hard to let go of old dietary beliefs, for instance. Those of us old enough to remember, know that we were indoctrinated during the 70s and 80s with nonsense about fat and cholesterol, and many people still believe. Back to Covid: many of my friends have these old habits born of fear, having to do with masks, tests and boosters, and I don’t think they’re ready to let go of them, yet. These people are not the extremists we see on Twitter; they’re just regular people trying to do the right thing.
I think Covid beliefs go far beyond anchoring bias. Perhaps this quote (attributed to Mark Twain) may be more applicable: "It is easier to fool the people than to convince them that they have been fooled."
I don’t understand the continued cognitive dissonance, of individuals and organizations. The hospital I am
employed at is requiring Covid vaccine again this year. But it’s simple to decline with a simple click online for any religious, health or personal reason, explanation not required. So in reality they don’t care if people are getting it or not, but they are “requiring” it anyway. Is this really necessary? Is it a virtue signal? I. Don’t. Get. It.
Totally virtue-signaling but, more clearly, grant-ensuring!
The continuing Draconian Covid protocols at NIH dependent university hospitals tells it all.
Maybe Emory, MIT and Stanford will refrain from giving ethics awards to Fauci, Hotez and their ilk the way that Case Western and Yale did.
I think they gave an award to the Santa Clara County tyrant, Sara Cody. CA allowed every county health director to become a total dictator. And the Institute of Public Health gave her a Fellowship. She is proving her continued tyrannical incompetence by requiring masks in all healthcare settings for the next 5 months - from now till eternity. For age TWO to infinity. So old people in hospitals and nursing homes will spend their last days and months never seeing a human face and unable to hear or be heard. Sick children will not be able to see their caregivers or be seen. The mindless cruelty is incredible.
In the end, they will all conclude, we did the best we could. It was all fear based, driven my social media, and a hyperbolic media and press. We have weathered many pandemics in the past 30 years without these Draconian measures. But it does no good, looking for fall guys or boogeymen. I still maintain this is Hanlon's Razor more than anything else. And so highly politicized to our detriment.
I agree that kids should never have been masked, nor should schools have been closed. Again, teachers and parents whipped into a frenzy. Kids in this country are now 2 years behind. That is the sad story.
Will there be any valuable lessons for the future? I doubt it. We do not live in a rational world. Critical thinking is not prized nor taught.
Critical thinking skills are not taught, because the teachers have no critical thinking skills. Not a priority in education programs. Current fad of DEI actually precludes critical thinking as this philosophy would never stand the scrutiny.
We can't let them get away with the 'we did the best we could' because a) They did the worst they could as Vinay lists and b) if we let them do so they will do it again
How many in audience were masked?
Vinay, it was a very enjoyable and intellectually stimulating evening. I listened intently to the whole thing online. You are most certainly correct when you ask academics to host more summits like these. Well done. May you participate in many more.
"The damn is breaking..."
Pun intended?
Magnificent! Thank For the Dispatch! Del Rio couldn’t debate is way out of petri dish.Don’t forget he and the equally deranged Uncle Bob “Paxolvid” Wachter relished their unhinged continual covid propaganda—“tis-tis-sing everyone who didn’t wear a face diaper and take weekly boosters!
Angela Rasmussen is a virologist and not a physician. It shows in how she mischaracterized VITT.
Off Topic: Dang, I wish I had known you were at Emory this past Monday. I would have run down there just to shake your hand. I love following you and learn how you see things and pull together facts, not hunches, to paint the picture. Thank you.
Near the end of my comment I said my concern was about the risk that asymptomatic children could infect others. I should have said that the worst impact was infecting their primary caregiver who may have significant co-morbidities, especially morbid obesity, which is common in GA. My apologies. I agree with all of the comments that the health of children was not significantly impacted by getting COVID. I also agree that there were negative consequences of social isolation and decreased educational attainment with school closure. But GA lost many caretakers to COVID. Many of Georgia's children became orphans. What is the impact on a child if they lose their mother and/or father? Hospitalization and death from COVID occurred due to many factors. One was asymptomatic transmission of the virus to people with significant co-morbidities. There are tradeoffs with any policy. Part of our decisions is based on probability of the incidence and severity of the disease for that local environment and our value system, i.e. what do we prioritize?
For Dr. Prasad to compare the health outcomes of the United States to Sweden is misleading since he does not consider the effect due to the local environment of that population. The local environment is very different in the Deep South than Sweden. I practice in Atlanta. Georgia has a higher incidence of morbid obesity than Sweden. Morbid obesity is one of the main risk factors for hospitalization/death from COVID. We also have a higher percentage of African Americans that experience inequality of care compared to Sweden. Georgia is one of 10 states that have not fully expanded Medicaid. Georgia’s social drivers of health (housing affordability, transportation accessibility, etc.) contribute to our poor health outcome compared to Sweden’s better social drivers of health resulting in better outcomes per the Commonwealth Fund. I am not concerned about the impact of COVID on the healthy pediatric population, but as asymptomatic carriers to others with high co-morbidities. I work with economists who have reminded me frequently that the local environment can change the effect of a policy from a positive effect for the average of the population to a negative effect for a specific population given their local environment. Economist will even go to the microlevel such a zip codes to determine the effect of a policy on that specific population. I agree with many of Dr. Prasad’s conclusions on other topics. I also believe that many schools closed for too long a period, especially after the COVID vaccine became available. And perhaps in certain local environments, schools did not need to close. Dr. Prasad is intelligent and has significantly more education in biostatistics that majority of his readers. But I believe if Dr. Prasad had received a PhD in economics, he would not overstate his conclusion that are based on comparing Sweden's and the U.S. health outcomes. It is a simplification of a complex issue. Researchers are evaluating the micro date of social impact and health outcomes of COVID so we can make more informed decisions when the next pandemic comes. I applaud them.
Even with all that Covid was extremely low risk to kids. Also, what we did made kids fatter! Not to mention all the other negatives for kids. Third, this whole “we shouldn’t have closed schools for as long” reads as cope to me. Sober adults should have known better. Just like the economy, an entire public education system is not something that can be switched off and on by a light switch.