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at times like these, we really do need to stick to EVIDENCE. it will always be incomplete. any course of action risks unintended consequences. we have to be honest about uncertainties and wary of our own biases, /
things that seem obvious (eg face masks/generating herd immunity) might be useful. but might also have some risks (esp adverse behaviour change/lack evidence useful). many who choose to use/rely them may be aware of these and mitigate accordingly. inevitably some won't.
evidence isn't just about RCTs. eg often said 'didn't need RCTs to know parachutes useful'. but creation parachutes involved many experiments, led to many deaths, animal and human: starting with RCT wrong - observations/literature/historical review first...
RCTs may be useful to test what better for a particular outcome (speed/landing precision/different object w same principles), whatever, and disregarding what known so far reckless. but still need to keep questioning what we know/assume. this means that as @MaryDixonWoods says
we need to ask if our lovely babies are so lovely after all. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6768008/ . it is harder to be critical of what we are doing when we are invested in it. human trait; understandable. dry stats in medicine contain human stories,
and most people in health/social care highly motivated; want to help; 'don't do nothing, stand there' - v hard in practice. emotion can drive us to do better, can use emotion to drive obtaining better evidence to be surer that good intentions get expected benefits. so:
evidence gets even more important to obtain and use in a stressful, uncertain situation - not less, and we need to keep questioning what we know/don't/unintended consequences. this isn't a hostile act - it's a safety catch.
