1. One of the key lessons we MUST take from #covid19 is that we need some form of oversight and ethics commitee to oversee and regulate the #media in terms of how it disseminates scientific/medical info

2. I think the spike in anxiety and mental health issues we are seeing is not just related to #lockdown but rather more related to reporting on #covid

I called for ethical reporting very early in March during my interview on RTE prime time and in my early #linkedin articles

3. Case in point is the over representation of #longcovid as a major issue.

Post viral syndromes/post infectious neuro conditions are very rare and not something we see any more or less of in #covid compared to for example the post infectious outcomes from herpes family

4. You'd be horrified to know the clinical course of post infectious syndromes mes from bog standard mono (ebv) or pan scelorosing encephalitis in herpes?

GBS, Acute and chronic forms of demyelinating encephalopathies, myocarditis, chronic fatigue, cancer etc?

5. These are all horrific but extremely rare outcomes from very ordinary infections. Other than docs nobody has heard of....

STOP chasing and reporting on unicorns we are hurting the mental health of people that can't contextualise these studies or make sense of reporting.

6. We need a new body to oversee media reporting on science and medicine.... The vast majority of reporters do not have any relevent background in science or med.

#mediaethics

7. We strictly regulate labeling claims and advertising on cosmetics, food, pharma etc. to protect people because it is well understood that use of scientific/med information shapes perception which ultimately translates to behavioral change. We need similar guidelines for media.

Unroll @threadreaderapp