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I’m an epidemiology professor and I write a weekly “weather report” outbreaks [1]. These communication and data blackouts are coming at a bad time. We’re having

I’m an epidemiology professor and I write a weekly “weather report” outbreaks [1]. These communication and data blackouts are coming at a bad time. We’re having an unusual flu season—activity has rebounded unexpectedly. I’ve been having to scramble for data, last week by visiting each state health department website. It’s really troubling and consequential. [1] https://caitlinrivers.substack.com https://caitlinrivers.substack.com

ocschwar 2y ago
Reach out to the developer behind 91-DIVOC. That won't cover red states that go dark when and if they do, but it was invaluable to me during the covid pandemic.
dgacmu 2y ago
I'm a CS professor who used to write and develop the software behind a daily and weekly Pennsylvania covid report. I get the pain here. It's a messy, incompatible jumble without the CDC. Would you like me to see if there are some CS folks here to provide programming support to help with what you're doing? I -hope- this is transient but I'm not holding my breath either. (feel free to reach out at dga@cs.cmu.edu)
- dgacmu 2y ago
  Relieved to see it's back online. Hopefully it remains reliable in both senses of the word.
pjc50 2y ago
This is intentional. They're mad about the covid response, and want to prevent mask mandates or lockdowns at any cost. At any cost. Including suppressing information about bird flu for as long as possible.
- repeekad 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - api 2y ago
    I’m curious about what will happen if they get to the parts of this Project 2025 like agenda that involves telling people to do things, or banning things people like. We already see that abortion bans are unpopular. When they are put to a vote they lose, even in very red states. How much more will people take? How will the Joe Rogan dudebro crowd react to banning porn? That’ll be interesting. I’ve been predicting for years that it’s these guys — the Christian Nationalists / NatCons — who are going to mass confiscate guns. Would that be the third rail?
    - tokioyoyo 2y ago
      I mean the current game plan, from what it seems, is to make porn a shameful and taboo thing. Same as abortions as well. There’s a heavy pro-natalism push for obvious reasons, and I have no idea why, but it feels like current government is trying to fix it through wrong methods. They know they’re royally fucked if people having 0-2 kids max.
      - api 2y ago
        Zero effort is going into addressing any of the top reasons people cite for not having kids: housing prices, unaffordable college, child care, etc.
        tokioyoyo 2y ago
        Those definitely affect the choice, but ultimately, there’s just no real cultural push to have more kids nowadays. Rich people aren’t having kids either, as you can see in top 10%, 1% brackets. Like, I don’t have a single girl friend that even wants 3 kids. Anyone whom I’ve talked to always has a range between 0-2. Can’t blame them. Giving up at the minimum 6 years of your life for no real benefits kinda sucks.
cka 2y ago
Definitely troubling. Not a replacement, but you might be interested in EHR derived communicable disease data available here: https://www.epicresearch.org/data-tracker/communicable-diseases https://www.epicresearch.org/data-tracker/communicable-disea...
Scottn1 2y ago
Your Twitter was one of several I followed to get trusted information during most of Covid. Just wanted to say "Thanks".

ocschwar 2y ago

Reach out to the developer behind 91-DIVOC. That won't cover red states that go dark when and if they do, but it was invaluable to me during the covid pandemic.

dgacmu 2y ago

I'm a CS professor who used to write and develop the software behind a daily and weekly Pennsylvania covid report. I get the pain here. It's a messy, incompatible jumble without the CDC. Would you like me to see if there are some CS folks here to provide programming support to help with what you're doing? I -hope- this is transient but I'm not holding my breath either. (feel free to reach out at dga@cs.cmu.edu)

dgacmu 2y ago
Relieved to see it's back online. Hopefully it remains reliable in both senses of the word.

pjc50 2y ago

This is intentional. They're mad about the covid response, and want to prevent mask mandates or lockdowns at any cost. At any cost. Including suppressing information about bird flu for as long as possible.

repeekad 2y ago
[flagged]
- api 2y ago
  I’m curious about what will happen if they get to the parts of this Project 2025 like agenda that involves telling people to do things, or banning things people like. We already see that abortion bans are unpopular. When they are put to a vote they lose, even in very red states. How much more will people take? How will the Joe Rogan dudebro crowd react to banning porn? That’ll be interesting. I’ve been predicting for years that it’s these guys — the Christian Nationalists / NatCons — who are going to mass confiscate guns. Would that be the third rail?
  - tokioyoyo 2y ago
    I mean the current game plan, from what it seems, is to make porn a shameful and taboo thing. Same as abortions as well. There’s a heavy pro-natalism push for obvious reasons, and I have no idea why, but it feels like current government is trying to fix it through wrong methods. They know they’re royally fucked if people having 0-2 kids max.
    - api 2y ago
      Zero effort is going into addressing any of the top reasons people cite for not having kids: housing prices, unaffordable college, child care, etc.
      - tokioyoyo 2y ago
        Those definitely affect the choice, but ultimately, there’s just no real cultural push to have more kids nowadays. Rich people aren’t having kids either, as you can see in top 10%, 1% brackets. Like, I don’t have a single girl friend that even wants 3 kids. Anyone whom I’ve talked to always has a range between 0-2. Can’t blame them. Giving up at the minimum 6 years of your life for no real benefits kinda sucks.

cka 2y ago

Definitely troubling. Not a replacement, but you might be interested in EHR derived communicable disease data available here: https://www.epicresearch.org/data-tracker/communicable-diseases https://www.epicresearch.org/data-tracker/communicable-disea...

Scottn1 2y ago

Your Twitter was one of several I followed to get trusted information during most of Covid. Just wanted to say "Thanks".