One dark trend of COVID is a lack of moderation. It's understandable, the world has never seen something like this. People are facing life altering social changes, and no end in sight. But as this progresses the need to remain moderate and considerate is growing 1/

Take for example my prior treatise on Hydroxychloroquine. The drug went to extreme ends, the panacea for the outbreak, to killing people. The people who tried to do proper randomized controlled trials were barraged by the effects of this extremism.
https://twitter.com/zchagla/status/1269312897697660930?s=20 2/

Asymptomatic testing became another extreme. Politics to test more asymptomatic. What happened? Assessment centers filled, turnaround, for ??? benefit - without thought on how to roll it out properly. We had to give the public guidance @DocDominik 3/ https://bit.ly/3eCA7Bv 

Where are we now? Deciding on how to roll out masks - with measures like mandates, fines, and penalties. I agree masks in low ventilation/poorly distanced settings in communities w covid are appropriate, but has anyone looked at the behavior change model here? 4/

Has anyone looked at what is best where? How to implement effectively? How people feel wearing masks for long stretch? What is the optimal for particular pop'n? @UrbanHealthProf @maureentaylor31 @sarah_khan_123 and I working on this - but without this cart before the horse 5/

If we knew the optimal way to roll out what should be effective interventions - the flu shot would have 100% compliance and everyone would stop smoking. Despite evidence, without incorporating individualized feedback and strategy, these rollouts can only go so far 6/

Extreme views don't help. I am been guilty of retweeting people with poor insight into COVID, and reflecting on this I will stop. Rather than shaming those who make decisions that go against pandemic societal norms, we have to focus on what strategies work to bring them in 7/

Otherwise, shaming people for not wearing masks, for their social indiscretions, for people that pass COVID-19 into their communities, creates more hostility. How do you do effective contact tracing when people feel like they'll be judged by their behaviour getting covid? 8/

A recent Kingston business is the centre of a COVID-19 outbreak, where ppl worked while symptomatic. There is outrage - blaming ppl for working while ill and others for deciding to use a nail salon. Did anyone ask why? Financial instability? Inability to access testing? 9/

There is work to be done, and public debate is warranted. Evidence is evolving by the day. But by simply focusing on extreme measures, adopting an apocalyptic message for all, polarizes the public rather than making them into a stakeholder. We need to play the long game 10/