Beth Padfield 🐀

She/Her 'The political is personal. The personal is political.' I'm committed to working for change & trying to not lose sight of the humor in it all.

[James Throt MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPath @JamesThrot]

Let’s talk about COVID, brain damage & society.

Specifically, what happens when a neurotropic virus repeatedly infects the population, targeting the frontal lobe & almost nobody talks about the consequences?

This thread is for the skeptics.

I’m a neurologist, stay with me 🧵

[Dr. Sean Mullen @drseanmullen]

I don’t think people ‘get it’ when it comes to asymptomatic transmission.

We’ve known since early 2020 that people without symptoms—either because they haven’t developed them yet or never will—can still spread disease. But health systems around the world keep making the same mistake: they build their entire outbreak response around people who feel sick. This review calls that out.

The authors in this paper (link 👇) looked across 15 pathogens, from SARS-CoV-2 to malaria to polio, and found a messy, inconsistent landscape. Not only is there no standard language for what we mean by “asymptomatic,” but many public health strategies act like these folks don’t exist—despite being central drivers of outbreaks.

Key takeaways:
1.Asymptomatic ≠ Harmless. Across nearly all diseases studied, a significant chunk of transmission comes from people without symptoms. With COVID, that’s more than half of all spread. With polio? Up to 99%.
2.This isn’t just about COVID. We’ve seen this with TB, malaria, dengue, HIV, typhoid—and even hints with Ebola. The issue isn’t the virus or bacteria—it’s the blind spot in our response.
3.The vocabulary is a mess. We toss around terms like “asymptomatic,” “pre-symptomatic,” “subclinical,” or “carriers,” but public health programs rarely define these clearly, which leads to gaps in tracking and treatment.
4.Evolution favors stealth. Some pathogens evolve to fly under the radar—transmitting more before people even realize they’re sick. Think of it as a biological strategy: don’t knock the host off their feet too early.
5.We’re designing policies for the wrong targets. Testing, isolation, vaccination strategies—all tend to focus on visible symptoms. That approach might have worked for smallpox, but it fails when your biggest spreaders don’t cough, sneeze, or even feel off.
6.Surveillance is outdated. We’re not collecting the right data. And when we do, we’re often using tools and definitions that underestimate silent spread. The paper recommends updating both methodology and mindset.

Bottom line?
If we keep ignoring the silent majority of transmitters, we’re playing catch-up with every new outbreak. We need clearer terminology, better detection, and interventions that acknowledge that just because someone feels fine doesn’t mean they’re not infectious.

Source: https://t.co/0CpIwfZURi

[Jammer @acrossthemersey]

We have nearly 500K papers discussing the dangers of a virus that causes chronic illness and disability, and people are DEFIANTLY choosing repeated infections instead of prevention because the Government they distrust so much says it’s just a cold.

[Jess @MeetJess]

Everyone’s coughing. Everyone’s tired. Everyone’s pretending it’s normal.
COVID didn’t end—we just stopped caring.
A 🧵 for the last people still awake

[Danielle Beckman @DaniBeckman]

This is one of the images deleted from the @CDCgov historical archive, by the way. I downloaded it this morning and can't access it anymore. We are ready to repeat the past.

[Nate Bear @NateB_Panic]

America has a 1.4 billion pound national cheese stockpile (yes really) that both Obama and Trump added to with massive bulk buys to keep a failing dairy industry happy, if you're wondering why nothing is being done to stop the spread of bird flu on American dairy farms

[ashley ➼⧗ @simplybishova]

thanks to the person who let me know about it, this site takes your fics from ao3, puts them on their website with shit ai art and audio without any permissions
here's a reddit thread with info - including an email for takedowns
8 of mine were on here
https://t.co/vRk2d8fhmo

[Lauren McKenzie @TheMcKenziest]

I really wish everyone understood that Covid is an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome but it’s airborne and mutating at extremely scary rates

[Tom Whyman @HealthUntoDeath]

A great quirk of our legal system is that no matter how horrific your crime is, you can get a vastly more lenient sentence if you happened to do it while driving a car

[Covid Solidarity @CovidSolidarit1]

It seems the current strain of perimenopause didn't exist before 2020...

[Taylor McNallie ☕ @TaylorMcNallie]

12. Black. Men. Self. Immolated. In. Prison. And there is no media reporting on it.

"Kevin Rashid Johnson reports that Econ and his cellmate Trayvon Brown set themselves on fire hoping to escape the intolerable racism, abuse, and inhumane conditions they were subjected to."

[Beth Padfield 🐀 @bkpadfield]

Nov. 20 is #transgenderdayofremembrance

[James Throt MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPath @JamesThrot]

I’m afraid this isn’t cut and dry at all 🧵.

First of all, damage/trauma to the brain can actually cause people to be more prone to sociopathic behaviour & even criminality.

The frontal lobe (FL) is responsible for the execution of empathy, hence diminishing empathy if damaged.

[jwal 🇵🇸 @jxwaly]

Public health was killed under Biden.

If you are scared about the future state of public health & Trump letting RFK Jr go wild…

…how long did it take after Biden was elected for you to drop C0V1D precautions? 🧵

[SevenLeafClover🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @CloverSevenLeaf]

If Trump installs his regime, here are a few reminders.

If you know anyone trans, you do not.

If you know any immigrants, they've been here their whole lives.

If someone asks you about politics, you do not discuss politics.

Anything and everything that will be used to target

[sophie ☆ @sellenomancy]

reminder that plan b pills have a weight limit of 155lbs with levonorgestrel and 195lbs with ulipristal acetate, reproductive health for fat people is severely understudied and this may not be a sure back up for u !!

[Dr. Mae Forrest Barnes @Dr_MaeForrest]

Critical reminder. Do not cede power too readily. Do not obey.

[thatonemaddy.bsky.social @thatonemaddy]

Watching Gen Z men veer right hits different for Millennials. We lived through Columbine, 9/11, the Iraq War, 2008 crash, 2016 election, covid, abortion bans, & now this. We watched institutions repeatedly fail us while older generations selfishly protected the status quo. 🧵1/

[february🧸 @spikenerxx]

thread of mask deals: