News from Australia

Are they that stupid that they don't realise the fact that their very first word was 'Some' [health services contact covid patients] makes the rest of what they say laughable BS

unless they are citing a study proving that 'all the rest who didn't contact them had no long covid patients'

Even if you were just going by a sentence needing to fit with the laws of logic?

EDIT: and I hate the fact I have to add 'had no long covid patients' doesn't mean when they just refuse to investigate or acknowledge anyone to pretend long covid didn't exist.

 

Interesting. So does Gerrard have the same worries when he is giving out Public Health information about eg STDs or heart problems

or .. what else is it that he does as part of his job as a campaign area?

I'd be interested to see someone posting a comparison of what he says on another area vs this as a comparator side-by-side with each other

For example is he that bad he still believes in the 'type A personality' causing heart attacks type thing too?

 

Yep they've made it seem like a country-based comparison rather than a condition-based one.

And of course that is the classic reframe the set technique - look there are those who have the same thinking issue in the UK too rather than 'compared to what you'd expect from something that calls itself medicine or a science..'

 

To ask the obvious question - and this applies to UK as much too:

of the professions that we've ended up being landed dealing with, which of them are actually taught this compulsorily at the start and then throughout their courses and vocational training?

Is the issue that they are some of the few degrees and training areas that critical thinking and critical evaluation are not built in as a requirement? ANd the few non-arts degree areas that have not been required to inhale and always remember to keep returning to these principles of logical thinking and what makes something science or truth or fact eg Kuhn?

 

The ABC's Norman Swan commented on this issue yesterday:

Why it might be too early to stop saying long-COVID

(I haven't got the cognitive capacity to listen to it, however some people have said that it's not nearly as ignorant and offensive as Swan's usual contributions on Long Covid and ME/CFS issues)

 

A balanced report. Norman Swan is a bit dubious about the Qld survey for reasons he explains.

He is open to ME/CFS being similar to long 'covvid' and hopes that covid research will help but he also says that the big difference is that the number of organs affected is greater in long covid, so they are not the same.

He casts doubt on ME being legitimate if it can't be linked to a viral infection.

It's heartening that he seems to have changed his tune. (Maybe he had already and I didn't know.)

 

That was a decent piece from Norman Swan, much better than six months ago and very much better than three years ago. Perhaps a little more evidence that the tide is turning.

 

A sympathetic article about severe ME and the lack of support and research funding in Australia:

His mother is apparently a tenacious advocate. She managed to get a story published a year ago when bushfires hit their farm and they were unable to move their son due to his severity.

 

I wish it had been just regional to Australia, but it got picked up round the world. Response by fellow (ex-pat) Aussie David Putrino in conversation with David Tuller - no punches pulled.

Also a response in https://theconversation.com/why-scr...-harmful-for-people-with-the-condition-225880

 

Here's our interview. Also covers Putrino's new study with Yale's Iwasaki on sex differences in Long Covid.

 

The people who promote antivaccination and insist that Long Covid = Long Vaxx especially love it. That's the kind of company our biopsychosocial overlords love to keep around, doesn't seem to bother them one bit that people who are always wrong about everything love their ideas.

They also seem entirely clueless that they are essentially handing out stockpiles of nuclear weapons to the antivaccine movement. Even as they are "baffled" by how strong antivaccine sentiment is growing. Especially now that all other measures to control respiratory diseases have been made politically and socially unacceptable.

With experts like this...

 

Shingles cases are increasing in New South Wales. Experts say COVID might be why

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-21/shingles-cases-increasing-nsw-covid-rise/103600746

 

Where would a population of influenza positive controls come from? I have never been given a formal test for influenza. Even in Queensland.

 

Emerge Australia hosted an event at Parliament House in Canberra today. There were a wide range of speakers (including little old me). Details of the event: https://www.emerge.org.au/sick-and-tired-casting-a-long-shadow-long-covid-inquiry-2023/

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties outside Emerge’s control (to do with this being a sitting parliamentary week), there was only audio available for those not in the room. But two presentations were pre-recorded, and for these there is video available.

My presentation:

David Putrino’s presentation:

I highly recommend David’s presentation. He goes hard on GET and behavioural approaches in no uncertain terms.

 

Also goes after the effort preference bullshit propagated by Wallitt.