For the first time in five years, I have taken two whole weeks off from both meatspace work and the blog. There's a reason. It is my 30th weddinganniversary. The last time I was there was 25 years ago. There is nothing new today. I was going to simply post a rerun of one of my past articles that I'm particularly proud of and consider a "classic", but Dr. Prasad gave me an excuse to repost an article from my not-so-secret other blog. Is it the reason? He wrote a recent Substack titled " When scientists' anxiety disorder interfere with other people's lives". It is behind a paywall, but it might as well be the same article that I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the dangers of legitimizing irrational anxiety. The same message is sent in both instances. It is irrational and evidence of an anxiety disorder to do anything more to avoid COVID-19 than we used to do against the flu. Concerns about infectious disease are evidence of excessive irrationality and even mental illness. Dr. Prasad is an idiot for either antivax propagandists or antivaccine himself. I added a bit of text from the previous version in order to address the new Substack. This post has been updated.
Those of us who have been following the antivaccine movement for a long time have been alarmed, amazed, and disappointed at how easy it is for certain doctors to switch to the vaccine. Doctors who were never antivaccine before the epidemic are now parroting "old school" antivaccine talking points, even though they realize they are antivax. An example of a talking point is to portray people who are irrational in their fear or anxiety in order to make them feel better. The fear and anxiety are depicted as less than rational.
Taking precautions to avoid COVID-19 is portrayed as being more than just irrational, but pathological, with people who still wear N95 masks being accused of "irrational anxiety" or "fear" just because they don't. The narrative depicts vaccination programs as being driven by irrational fear in order for the medical profession, big pharma, and government to control you. Over the last two decades, I have lost track of how many times I have read variations on this theme, which is why I took note of an article on a Substack. What is the author's name? It had to be Dr. Vinay Prasad, the adult oncologist who fancies himself an expert in infectious disease, epidemiology, and the like. In his Substack, he argues that we should treat COVID-19 like the flu, but not as much as we used to.
Let's look at his contempt for irrationality. If you don't understand how irrational the ever-eminent is, he has a subtitle for it.
Healthy middle age people carrying CO2 monitors need frank advice to stop.
I had never heard of CO 2 monitors until very early in the Pandemic. The monitors are mentioned multiple times in Dr. Prasad's post. When I was curious, I searched for the term "CO 2 monitor". The risk of COVID-19 transmission in the room probably elevated due to the fact that most of what I found was advocated on social media. I found some people who advocated for such monitors, but they didn't sound like they were afraid or irrational.
It's for example:
I highly recommend getting a small CO2 monitor like the ones sold by @DonateMask. It has been very useful on my trip for gauging the risk of Covid-19 in different locations and it is much more affordable than an Aranet4 device. pic.twitter.com/bkbtODRWvY
— Karen K. Ho (@karenkho) September 4, 2022
I liked this one because it seemed like Dr. Prasad was making fun of Musk.
The higher CO2 in the room, the more you’re breathing the air that someone else has already exhaled. Monitor CO2 level, it will help to minimize COVID-19 infection risk by warning you when the air quality deteriorates. #Aranet4 #COVIDisAirborne https://t.co/2eXkiUm3T8
— Aranet (@AranetIoT) July 19, 2022
There was a story like this.
My impression was that these people were not being irrational, just cautious, and that having better ventilation is a good thing, even if you don't know how low your CO 2 reading needs to be. I can see why he would want to target such monitors. The Brownstone Institute for which he writes has been hostile for a long time to masks and any other CO.
The title of Dr. Prasad's rant should tell you what I'm talking about when I mention that contrarian doctors often echo antivax talking points. It used to be that I would give people like Dr. Prasad the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were aware that antivaccine propaganda had been around for a long time. On a number of occasions, the benefit of the doubt led me to state categorically that I didn't think Dr. Prasad was antivaccine. I used to have a lot of confidence in Dr. Prasad but now I can't say this about him. The othercontrarians have been told many times that the talking points are antivax. They either don't believe in them or use them anyways. The new school COVID-19 antivaxxers look a lot like the old school antivaxxers of the past.
Anyone who is middle-aged or younger and relatively healthy shouldn't worry about COVID-19 anymore, and if you continue to take precautions you're a victim of "irrational anxiety" You could be mentally ill.
Medicine has always drawn a distinction between appropriate and inappropriate emotions. If someone experiences sadness, loss of appetite, and lack of desire to get out of bed, it is relevant if they just lost a spouse versus if this is simply Wednesday.
Similarly, if you take appropriate precautions when you climb Half Dome you are being reasonable, but if you refuse to climb 12 stairs out of fear of heights, you are not, and you might benefit from mental health care.
It’s time for medical professionals to advise young, middle age, healthy people to throw away your n95, leave your C02 monitor at home and get back to life. These are not proportionate responses. You are not acting reasonably. Someone needs to tell you.
Do you want to see the story? If you are young to middle-aged and still insist on wearing an N95 in public, then you may be suffering from a mental illness. What's the reason? Resisting any more is pointless to him. Is it irrational to worry about COVID-19 because you can't avoid it?
It's irrational as I said.
Anyone who plans on being around for the next decade has only two things guaranteed: You will definitely get Covid19 and you will definitely pay taxes.
As of Sept 2022, everyone in America has had plenty of opportunity to be vaccinated if they wish. Among those who haven’t, rates of COVID-19 are sky high. Most have had and recovered from the virus, making their risk from reinfection low. Even those who’ve been vaccinated suffered breakthrough at astonishing rates. Finally, the virus itself has drifted towards less lethality.
Even if you agree that it is no more deadly than the flu, you should still try to avoid it. The evolution of the antivax/COVID-19 narrative from March 2020 can be noted. The narrative back then was that COVID-19 wasn't as bad as the flu. Even though he has resisted vaccine mandates for anyone who is not elderly or chronically ill, Dr. Prasad claims that it is no worse than the flu now that we have vaccines.
Let's do a comparison and contrast. Here is the doctor.
The IFR for Covid19 is now less than flu. Fear of long COVID is irrational. In so far as it exists, you have to accept it. In so far as it is overblown, you can ignore it. There is no good evidence boosters or Paxlovid or anything changes it. That evidence would require a clear consistent and reproducible definition. Good luck with that.
Over the next few years, COVID-19 will engulf everyone on Earth. Over the next few decades, it will engulf everyone many times over.
Given: you’re eventually going to get Covid19 and it’s less dangerous than flu, you should take all the same precautions you used to take for flu, but no more.
Dr. Prasad believes that fear and tribalism are all signals. I usually don't make fun of typos, but I'll make an exception for Dr. Prasad. Anyhow, it's something.
At this moment in time, COVID19 is not a risk big enough to most people to justify behaving differently than you did pre-covid. When I see a healthy 20 year old wearing an n95 mask outside, I feel pity for them. They are the victim of irrational messaging, virtual signaling, tribalism, and possibly also fear and anxiety. We should encourage them to live normally, and relax.
Let's return to 2020. I don't know who the person is who said the following, but I will quote them. This quote does not come from a doctor. In order to show how similar antivax messaging was in June 2020 to what it is now, I am quoting this statement from June 2020.
What is the group that is really at risk? Let’s be honest about this and say something that might get me some trouble here, but let’s be honest. That group is very well known. It’s people over the age of 65—not just because you’re over the age of 65, but you’re sick with other diseases. You have heart disease. You have COPD. You have diabetes. You have issues, many of those issues coming from the fact that you didn’t treat your body very well while you were on this planet. And I want to talk about this for one minute as we close this down. That 0.26% are the most sick among us, and I have nothing against you. Go ahead and bubble wrap your house. Lock yourself in your basement. Go and do what’s necessary.
That's not the only thing.
So here’s what we do. Let’s go outside. Let’s take off our masks. We’re not on drugs, and we don’t need to be on drugs. Let’s catch this cold! Whether or not it’s just the 20% of us and maybe we’re not even in that category, let’s give it a college try to catch this cold, so that we can protect the pharmaceutical-dependent amongst us!
The quote comes from six months before the vaccine began to work. I wonder if these two passages sound the same. There is the same attitude of "don't worry, be happy" and the same characterization of COVID-19 as not dangerous to people who aren't old and sick already.
Two years ago, the second person urged people to catch this cold, while also calling those who want people to take precautions not just irrational but selfish. I have quoted him many times as an example of an antivaxer who denies the severity of COVID-19 and advocates that most people return to pre-COVID-19 behavior. Yes, that is correct. The man who was an antivax advocate before the epidemic collaborated with another man to make a movie about the disease. You really should take a hard look at how you got to this point if you find yourself sounding like Del Big tree.
It was back in the day when we were worried about low vaccine take-up that Dr. Bob Sears posted this to his group.
There is a similar tone exhibited by Del Bigtree and Dr. Prasad.
I love you all, and love caring for you all. But just chill out. Measles will never go away – it’s always going to be a very small risk. If you aren’t comfortable with that, get the vaccine. If you don’t want the vaccine, accept the risk.
I am pretty sure that Dr. Prasad knows what he's doing. He tries to portray a small group of people as irrational, even though he has to exaggerate to do it.
Looking down at your Co2 monitor and snapping photos for twitter is no way to live. You need some frank advice: it’s time to stop, for your own sake and those around you.
You aren't worth anything and you're weak.
Don't fret. It isn't your fault. Our worthlessness and weakness in the face of COVID-19 aren't your fault and you shouldn't feel bad about it. The CDC and the Democrats are to blame.
The CDC has done you a disservice. It has enabled people to act irrationally by pushing Paxlovid in people in whom it was not studied. It encouraged people to mask without ever generating data if the community recommendation worked, and worse: long after it made sense. It recently encouraged healthy 20 year olds to wear an n95— that is frankly bad advice. Any covid benefit dwarfed by the downsides of making a 20 year old think they are vulnerable and weak. The CDC may be doing this for political rather than medical reasons. It caters to the most irrational pole of one political party. Alternatively, the agency is filled with work from home people— who themselves could benefit from frank advice.
Do you have that for all of us? You have been turned into a bunch of crybabies by the CDC and the Democrats. Tucker Carlson and the rest of the right wing pundits are trying to portray caution in the face of a global epidemic as cowardice because they worship strength and masculinity and view collective action and action that doesn't work. It is custom designed to appeal to a certain political leaning.
It's worse than that. If you continue to hide your children, particularly children in daycare, Dr. Prasad thinks you are faking it.
You would never shield your face from an infant in daycare, for hour after hour, day after day. Doing that now is deranged. The potential downside far exceeds any potential upside.
That is correct. Those of you who want to protect daycare workers and small children with mask mandates aren't just worthless. You are downright crazy. What was that that Dr. Prasad was complaining about? The loss of civility and obsessive criticism of people like him. He is calling him out for hypocrisy, but it is nothing new.
Dr. Prasad has some good news for you, along with a heaping helping of contempt, slippery slope fallacy, and a dash of reductio ad absurdum.
You didn’t complain that your employer was trying to encourage people to show up to work, so they can justify paying them. Don’t do that now. It seem unreal that professors, who have been handsomely paid and never asked to take risk pre-vax, are refusing to work post-vax—- refusing to work in 2022. Will they refuse to work in 2030? The virus isn’t going anywhere.
Academics have tended to be the ones most concerned about the Pandemic and the least receptive to his style of "don't worry, be happy". His argument serves the large corporations that are trying to force their workers to stop working virtually and come back to the office, whether it's safe or not, which tracks with his association with the "free market" libertarian think tank the Brownstone Institute. I can attest to the fact that condescendingly and contemptuously lecturing and mocking people is a great way to get people to listen. He thinks that young people are not as smart, smart, or good as his generation was.
Dr. Prasad doesn't limit his attacks to just academics, but also challenges his critics with another slippery slope attack, just not stretching it all the way out to 2025.
Some may disagree with my prescription: If you do, you should articulate the reason. Do you really think you can avoid COVID-19 indefinitely? Are you going to carrying a CO2 monitor in 2025? How long will you continue this? Do you think it’s possible you’re acting irrationally?
In most cases, the path down the slope is clearly laid out and supported in the slippery slope fallacy. It's a convenient strategy to portray his critics and those whom he sees as "irrational" as being tricked by the CDC. Reductio ad absurdum is an effective rhetorical strategy, but it isn't an actual argument.
There is a constellation of baffling and often disabling symptoms that people who have recovered from COVID-19 suffer. Thank you for asking! You are irrational to fear that as well, he thinks.
Fear of long COVID is irrational. In so far as it exists, you have to accept it. In so far as it is overblown, you can ignore it. There is no good evidence boosters or Paxlovid or anything changes it. That evidence would require a clear consistent and reproducible definition. Good luck with that.
It was a jerk.
I don't want to see a physician who ignores patients' symptoms with a cheerful "Good luck with that!" Those of us who think chronicLyme disease is a fake diagnosis don't dismiss patients like that. No matter how much chronicLyme quacks try to portray us differently.
It's not just young people. He blames doctors and scientists for allowing their anxiety disorders to affect everyone else. It is readable without a subscription.
A key concept in psychiatry is that an idea or compulsion or personality trait can be acceptable if it doesn’t bother you, but becomes harmful and pathological when it interferes with your daily life. It’s ok to be obsessive, but it is obsessive compulsive disorder if it interferes with your day to day.
What word do we use to describe doctors, scientists and policy makers whose personal mental health issues affect their policy recommendations? The lives of others? If someone’s anxiety makes them more likely to support school closure, masking 2 year olds or lockdown, how should we consider them?
It is pathologic for anxiety to harm your own life, but I believe we enter the realm of catastrophe when personal mental health issues affect sweeping policy matters. Let’s consider some examples of vocal policy analysts (doctors, scientists, professors) who’s comments might be concerning.
It sounds similar to what Dr. Prasad said in his Substack. He is now saying that physicians and scientists are irrational blobs of fear and who can't help but impose their fear and anxiety on society as a whole.
In May, I wrote about an argument in which a doctor described a fear of flying. There is a link from the social networking site.
& you misunderstand one of the central tenets of harm reduction: meeting people where they’re at. I work on HIV & substance use. Have for a long time. Would never shame someone in public as a coronaphobe or anything else. Imagine your patient reading this.
— Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves) May 15, 2022
This is what she had said about her own article.
I’m finding that the “cure” for some of my patients’ outsize fear of COVID is … COVID.
“Coronaphobia” can be defined as an exaggerated fear of COVID that’s rooted in the rational anxiety of the very real threat of COVID.
(I wrote this a year ago.)
https://t.co/c8Nhh1Brlr
— Lucy McBride, MD (@drlucymcbride) May 14, 2022
The message is the same; stop being irrationally afraid and just catch COVID-19. It is not my intention to deny that there are people out there suffering from anxiety and depression due to the consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic, some of whom may need treatment. There are, yes. I am going to show you how similar the messaging is to what I have come to expect from the antivaccine movement. There is an old antivax trope that seeks to shame those who fear vaccine preventable diseases. In my post about her article, I listed some examples that have been done before.
I will note that Dr. Prasad goes further than Dr. McBride. The doctor tried to sound sympathetic about her patients' irrational fears. What is a fear that is overblown and irrational? Covid19 is less dangerous than flu. It's time to stop being a cowardice and catch the flu.
I would like to be as charitable as possible, even after expressing my displeasure with Dr. Prasad. I can't help but wonder about one part of Dr. Prasad's post, "you should take all the same precautions you used to..."
We used to take the same precautions for flu. The doctor said they included this:
You definitely washed your hands in the winter back in 2019, and you should do that now. At the same time you don’t have to be excessive about it. You can do it like you did before, reasonably.
I think Dr. Prasad missed something when he described the precautions we took against the flu. I don't know what specific precautions I'm missing. Hmm.
Wait, I know.
The doctor forgot to mention the flu vaccine. It must have been a mistake on his part. The CDC still recommends that people over the age of 6 months get a flu vaccine every year before the flu season starts. It was a key part of taking all the same precautions, but no more. The doctor mentioned the vaccine. He said that if parents were worried about the disease, they should get their children vaccine. Isn't it odd that Dr. Prasad didn't say "if you're so worried about COVID-19, get vaccine and boosted" The man didn't. He is worse than many pre-vaxxers.
We should at the very least model our precautions against COVID-19, since it is here to stay according to the good.
In the interests of the most charitable interpretation of Dr. Prasad's post, I assume that he is suggesting that everyone, starting at the age of six months, follow CDC recommendations for vaccinations against COVID-19.
I think it was an oversight that the vaccine wasn't mentioned. He could not have meant that we should not get vaccine against COVID-19. He made the comparison and said that we should treat COVID-19 the same way that we treat the flu, not me. It must have done that.
There is a problem with anxiety over the Pandemic. There is a real anxiety syndrome that is accepted. I pointed out how Dr. did. It is being minimized by conflating real anxiety disorders provoked by a once-in-a-century ongoing crisis with much more reasonable concerns and using a false comparison with the flu that completely misses out one key element that many of us did every year to protect ourselves against the flu. I am done being charitable with him. He knows exactly what he is doing and what the Brownstone Institute and Tucker Carlson are doing is the same thing.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
