Time for another takedown.

Today, it’s the editors of @NEJM for today’s editorial. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2029812

I will start with the references: 2 database queries, and 2 newspaper articles.

Definitely typical for an editorial in arguably the world’s top medical journal.

Regarding the arguments forwarded by the editors, we should first compare COVID rates of cherry-picked countries.

Should Canadians complain that their death rate is ~1000x that of Vietnam?

As Americans (I presume the editors of @NEJM are American), they should understand that—for better or worse, totalitarian approaches (like China’s) don’t work here.

And unlike New Zealand, we are not tiny, isolated islands.

First, was the early warning of SARSCoV2 ignored? As I recall, early travel bans were viewed as xenophobic.

Regarding testing, it should be justified *why* tests/infected person is a better metric (just cite). And was there really a lack of emphasis of developing capacity?

These arguments are either not understanding if American character (for better or worse) & it’s feeling towards “leadership”.

I would suggest no amount of “leadership” could herd us cats.

And regarding lifting of restrictions, how’s Europe doing?

Has the outstanding American expertise been uniform in their approach? I don’t think so.

Like all of us, we have muddled through as best we could, and tried to adjust when possible.

Have experts been ignored or denigrated? Maybe. Give some examples, because some deserved it!

For the Federal Government to run things, we needed to be assured they were right. In the setting of a novel threat, that’s poor risk management. We need experimentation to see what’s best—and some will not be great.

The key is to learn & adjust.

Regarding the CDC’s & FDA’s early testing failures, where does the blame lie? With the current administration? Or are they more institutional?

For the NIH, what does vaccine expertise mean for “government decision making”?

And if you have complaints, give some examples.

Are the editors claiming that COVID’s impact on minorities fed into this year’s protests?

And school closures—maybe ask @VPrasadMDMPH about that!

And last, while I can’t be precise, this editorial may have led to even more deaths than the Surgisphere paper.

Now, I don’t want to tell you know to vote for, but the current administration really sucks.

*WINK* *WINK*