A thread for everyone getting really confused & worried by all the news stories & tweets suggesting the experts can’t agree on the best way for a country to deal with #Covid_19

It’s worth remembering that even when presented with the same evidence people will make different decisions based on what they value. What’s important is they make those values clear so you know where they are coming from.

But it’s also worth remembering that even some experts will cherry-pick & misrepresent the data to support their position. It’s not what we are trained to do. We’re supposed to adjust our position as the data/evidence changes. But not everyone does.

Another thing to note is there may be unseen players pulling the strings. We’ve seen this happen most famously with smoking but also with climate change. It could be happening here too. That’s why transparency is really important.

Here’s my values: I believe all people are important & would like to live in a more equitable country & world. I would like everyone to earn a living wage & for all the hidden unpaid work that keeps the economy ticking over to be valued & paid.

Now you know why I interpret the evidence the way I do.

If you want to know about my conflicts of interest: my main salary comes from the University of Auckland. I am also a director of a small company (Brightenz) that is still finding its feet & not making any money.

I’m also paid for my fortnightly Stuff column & science slot on RNZs Nine to Noon programme. I also get paid to give talks about antibiotic resistance & have an agent who organizes that. I donate all this money (10-20K/yr) to my lab so my PhD students can afford to do experiments

For full transparency, I’ve had offers to pay me for the writing & webcast stuff I’m doing around Covid. I’m not comfortable with that as I feel like I’m just doing an important part of the job I’m already paid to do. Though it has gone well beyond the 20% allocated to service

In all likelihood, I’ll ask for donations to be made to my lab so that once we get back to work my students will be able to do even more of the experiments they would love to do but we can’t afford for them to do.

Ok, so people are asking for a link to how they can donate to my lab. Please note, this won't influence me in any way and you are under no obligation to donate :) https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/giving/donate/a-z-list-of-funds/new-medicines-to-kill-superbugs-fund.html

My lab is searching for new antibiotics with the awesome @BevanWeir & Brent Copp. This video explains what and why...

If you want to take a deeper dive into why #AntibioticResistance is so important, I wrote a short book about it. You can get the ebook here: https://www.bwb.co.nz/books/antibiotic-resistance - I do get a small amount of royalties but again I donate those to my lab.

And just in case it needs spelling out... I have no interest or intention to enter into politics. While there's plenty of things I loathe about working in academia, I love research & want to do all I can to help keep modern medicine functioning as superbugs become more common