1/ Not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but Dominic Cummings appears to take a keen amateur interest in epidemiology. This was one of the papers he specified as required reading for applicants to his "freaks & weirdos" job ad on his blog in January.

2/ The paper compares "simple" contagions - i.e. infectious diseases - with "complex" contagions - e.g. social and political ideas. It appears to be written primarily to assist people who would like to promote such the spread of such complex contagions, for whatever reason.

3/ Cummings job ad was - like most of his writing - dripping with contempt for what he sees as received wisdom. It was headed with a number of quotes, including these two.

4/ A few weeks later, Cummings was eagerly promoting the idea of "herd immunity" as the solution to the COVID19 pandemic - a solution that flew in the face of experience gained in other countries, WHO advice and the "received wisdom" of most epidemiologists.

Did Cummings' interest in the *spreading* of "complex contagions", his keen interest in (but limited understanding of) epidemiology & his contempt for the received wisdom of experts feed into the herd immunity strategy?

If so, we may pay a high price for his amateur enthusiasms.