what do I hope to achieve by spreading distrust
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the better question would be what do I hope to achieve by spreading truth.
and the answer to both questions is, nothing. it just annoys me to see this idea spread about that if we can all just wash our hands nothing bad will happen, much like seeing the mouth breathers at tesco buying all the toilet paper, it's annoying and stupid.
something very bad will happen regardless of washing hands, it will have negligible impact on infection rates. it's about breathing fucking air with this one. washing hands, good idea, but it's not going to make any statistical impact.
(, Thu 12 Mar 2020, 12:34, Share, Reply)
news.mit.edu/2020/slow-epidemic-airport-handwashing-0206
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Mudface The web isn't callipygian, Thu 12 Mar 2020, 13:23,
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quote MIT study:
"A new study estimates that improving the rates of handwashing by travelers passing through just 10 of the world’s leading airports could significantly reduce the spread of many infectious diseases."
quote Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP):
"I wouldn't tell you to stop using Hand Sanitiser, but don't think it's going to have a big impact on this bug".
(, Thu 12 Mar 2020, 13:28, Share, Reply)
2 things to think about
1) MIT: many not ALL infectious diseases
2) Michael Osterholm: not a BIG impact
1- no specific mention of corona virus in the study itself, the authors however say it's relevant.
2 - not a big impact doesn't mean zero
I agree it would make sense in the main airport hubs, if the data suggests that. any tiny % difference there would make a big difference globally I suppose
(, Thu 12 Mar 2020, 13:34, Share, Reply)
before you get all excited about his credentials
the Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health is a U Min award given to staff at U Min by the dean. So it's a bit of a "employee of the month" award.
his Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy again is something that he created himself at U Min, not some federal organisation like the CDC that he was chosen to be a director.
I'm sure he's a fine academic, and sounds like he is a big deal in Minnesota, though he seems to be more dedicated to writing popular non-fiction these days with scary titles and promoting them on radio. But there's plenty of Epidemiologists at other faculties around the US who have published more than him whose opinions would carry equal weight, if not more. Don't get too carried away
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Fri 13 Mar 2020, 5:49,
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True
There's a significant difference between claims made by an academic in a media interview or even a book and what they commit to reasonably tiered peer reviewed publishing. The podcast interview in question didn't come with links to the papers he's referring to so when he uses informal, imprecise terms such as 'big' we can't assess the data backing it up and his interpretation . The Twiv podcast I mentioned above comes with a reference list of all the papers the virologists have discussed on each episode.
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Mudface The web isn't callipygian, Fri 13 Mar 2020, 7:02,
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