what they consider to be true. Sometimes there is malintent, but often people actually believe what they believe because of anecdotes they hear. So I am a fan of platforms being open. It is on each of us to make sure that we discern information appropriately. It is also on our educational systems and communities to make sure we teach discernment. How do we most effectively fight misinformation? During the pandemic, if I got on Twitter to correct something, for example, there were 20 people coming at me from all different angles. They didn ’ t hold back. They attacked the science, and they also attacked the person. Oftentimes, scientists, doctors, public health practitioners and the government thought we flew above that. But there comes a point where you can ’ t. We don ’ t have to be combative or talk down to people, but we do have to directly correct mistruths. We should say I ’ m from the President ’ s office — and that is not the same as a quasi- expert. Sometimes we were too timid or too politically correct in our approach to misinformation. With the political climate and real-time access to information, that can be read as unknowing. How can we prevent another pandemic? There are multiple layers to how a pandemic starts. The truth is that this pandemic could have been prevented. Maybe the spillover or those initial infections could not have but the full spread could have been prevented had we locked down sooner or been quicker to identify the virus prior to it emerging in humans. That is the key: having some level of surveillance of zoonotic reservoirs, whether it be bats or farm animals or other animal populations. Making sure that we ’ re on top of emerging viruses is a hefty task. It isn ’ t so fun, from a scientific perspective, because 99.9% of the time, you don ’ t find anything. But some really good surveillance of zoonotic reservoirs will help us to identify risks and be more aware of the changes. In health care, if the emergency room or intensive care units look different week to week, then something ’ s happening in your immediate community. A healthcare provider should not necessarily be tasked with figuring that out. But there does need to be an alert system to tell experts who can take it seriously and address it swiftly. Data shows minority populations were hit harder by COVID-19. What should people know about these health disparities, and what can public health experts and healthcare providers do to achieve health equity? When various populations are affected unequally by an issue, we often talk about it in a way that is accusatory of the people who are different. We have to reframe that. I am trying very hard to make academia do this. People always ask: “ How can we encourage more people of color to become scientists? ” But why would you want to join the scientific community if you are a person of color when that environment is unwelcoming to you? This is the same with healthcare disparities. The geography of health is different from one neighborhood to another. I ’ ve seen this in places I ’ ve lived like Boston and Baltimore. So we need to focus on how we can make people ’ s environments better, so they can live longer and healthier lives. When it comes to healthcare disparities, many people do have genetic components that influence their risk of conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes. But there are also social and economic components as well as lack of access to primary care, the infant mortality rate and differences in prenatal care that are at the population level.
“ People should not feel ashamed of what ails their community. ”
That ’ s often what happens. There are communities now who are hiding their opioid epidemic, because it ’ s shameful to them. They don ’ t know that the pharmaceutical industry is involved, the medical community is involved based on the way that medicines have been prescribed for decades and that access to these drugs often depends on where you live. It is harder to get heroin in some places as opposed to others. So you really have to release the self-blame and come out of that shame. It ’ s the first step to freedom. When you think that disease or poor health is predestined because of where you are coming from or your family history, it ’ s harder to wrap your mind around the possibility of change. Releasing that shame also helps you to
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