In light of this now infamous @The_OAH email telling us 3 weeks ago that it would be okay today to travel to DC and gather in hotel meeting rooms and elevators as long as there was hand sanitizer, I fear we should give serious thought to revising what we tell our students. /1

We like to say: History teaches critical thinking. History will give you the tools and the skills to know how to distinguish credible from less-than-credible info. History will teach you how to think for yourself. We can use the past to help us understand the present. /2

@The_OAH lesson is that it would be more honest to say: our discipline's leaders, in a crisis, will not think for themselves. They will choose not to heed credible, widely available evidence. They will wait for the govt to tell them what to do, even when that govt's failings are

...on the front pages every day. They will ignore everything we know about past pandemics, such as that avoiding large gatherings early on is key (remember that Philly vs. St. Louis tale that was circulating everywhere?). They will outsource the job of thinking for themselves. /4

Three weeks ago @The_OAH could have chosen to lead. It could have chosen to help Americans understand the enveloping national and global emergency, evidence of which was everywhere. They chose to follow the Trump administration. It saddens me immensely.

Note also the risk assessment: to "minimize" an unknown level of risk is to accept a potentially high level of risk, not only for attendees but for society as a whole.