More than a decade before the coronavirus became a global scourge, Carl Bergstrom was working on a plan for what to do if just such a pandemic ever broke out.
Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington, conducted research on pandemic planning, crafting strategies to contain the spread of infectious diseases. He said the work naturally intertwined with policy discussions. Former Vice President Dick Cheney took an interest in the research, he said, particularly in debates about the role of the government in public health crises.
But even with that background, Bergstrom was unprepared for how politically charged and hyperpartisan the current health crisis has become.
“It never occurred to us that if a pandemic actually broke out, there would be political lines drawn over whether it even existed,” he said.
An evolutionary biologist by training, Bergstrom has emerged as one of the nation’s top experts during the coronavirus pandemic — a measured voice amid the hysteria and a prolific Twitter personality in a field that isn’t always known for its outspoken advocates. Bergstrom has been using his platform to cut through the politics to educate the public, elevate the voices of other scientists and fight back against claims that are misleading or downright false.
It’s a somewhat thankless job. Being outspoken on Twitter has opened up Bergstrom to regular attacks from online trolls who question his motives, integrity and expertise. But advocating for science, he said, is also the most important thing he can do right now.
“Helping people understand what’s going on and why we need to take the steps we’re taking helps people to be willing to make the sacrifices they need to and helps create the political will to put strong steps in place to slow down the pandemic,” he said.
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Stepping into that role was sort of a natural fit for Bergstrom, whose background in evolutionary biology steeled him for contentious debates.
“I was involved to some degree in the so-called evolution wars and arguments about intelligent design and creationism,” he said. “But I just really like talking to people about science.”
Science has always been intertwined with policy — at times driving lawmakers’ agendas but more recently getting disregarded or downplayed. And politics have colored every aspect of the current outbreak, with President Donald Trump himself pushing questionable claims.
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But even as coronavirus cases skyrocketed in states such as New York, New Jersey, Louisiana and Illinois, political battles were waged over stay-at-home orders that some felt were too stringent. And though scientists have repeatedly warned about the dangers and transmissibility of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, a recent Gallup survey found that a majority of self-identified Republicans remain skeptical about how deadly the coronavirus is compared to the flu.
This type of uphill battle may have caught Bergstrom by surprise, but it’s all too familiar territory for scientists in other disciplines, including climate researchers.
As universities, workplaces, and others think about “re-entry testing”, it is essential to keep in mind that people don’t test positive for the first ~5 days after infection, and even the the tests have high false negative rates.
“I was saying, ‘I can’t believe this is politicized — it’s just science,’ and the climate change people were just rolling their eyes,” he said. “I’m sure they were like, ‘You poor, innocent biologist, you have no idea.’”
For the most part, Bergstrom said he’s able to maintain a healthy discourse with people online, but he added that some allegations are harder to stomach than others.
“What I and a lot of other scientists don’t like are accusations that we’re not acting in good faith,” he said. “We take that extraordinarily seriously. When people say you’re faking the science in order to advance a political agenda or whatever, that’s a terrible accusation to make. It’s a lot worse than being called stupid.”
Yet Bergstrom is hardly naïve to the dark side of social media. His research has focused on network structures and how network dynamics can influence both how diseases spread and how they can be contained. From there, Bergstrom said he became interested in using similar mathematical models to track how information — and disinformation — spread online.
Bergstrom and Jevin West, an assistant professor in the Information School at the University of Washington, developed what has become a popular course called Calling Bulls*it. The expansive syllabus includes tools for how to identify and refute falsehoods — particularly those that hide behind data or other statistical figures — in politics, science, pop culture and the news media.
Bergstrom and West have been teaching the course since 2017, and a book of the same name is set to be published by Penguin Random House on Aug. 4. The duo had no idea the book’s release would coincide with the most serious pandemic in more than 100 years, but the timing is particularly prescient.
“We couldn’t anticipate that it would be this particular thing, but we could anticipate that we were going to face a serious crisis that would be exacerbated by the way information is exchanged and the way that communication networks become polarized,” he said.
Destroying the country’s scientific institutions because the facts don’t fall the way you them to—that’s like gouging out your eyes to avoid seeing bad news. It works momentarily, but the bad news doesn’t disappear, and now you no longer have the advantage of sight in responding.
And it’s Bergstrom’s relentless drive to promote science and combat misinformation that has kept him going during this global health crisis. He was one of the early voices that turned “flatten the curve” into a rallying cry to curb the virus’ spread. He takes it upon himself to keep up with coronavirus research so that he can add context to the findings or answer questions about it from his audiences. And he regularly consults with local and state politicians to help craft strategies for reopening businesses and easing lockdown restrictions.
It’s a big undertaking. Bergstrom estimated that he receives 50 to 100 requests for his time each day — ranging from meetings with other scientists, interview requests from reporters or consulting calls. For a roughly six-week period beginning in mid-March when the pandemic reached a fevered pitch in the U.S., Bergstrom said he was working 100 hours a week, juggling little sleep and often waking up in the middle of the night to sift through more research.
But there’s no trace of complaint in his voice. Rather, he’s grateful for the opportunity to do his part.
“I feel extremely lucky to have something to do during the pandemic that is contributing and feels like it has meaning,” he said.
There have also been other silver linings. While social media can be a breeding ground for armchair experts or bad actors seeking to spread false information, Bergstrom said he has also experienced a level of engagement with science that he says is gratifying.
“I’ll be walking through the grocery store and hear people talking about positive predictive value or the problems with error-prone seroprevalence testing, and that’s remarkable to me,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll come out of this with some public good and public interest in science, and I hope we’re not so exhausted that we fall down on the job in terms of being there to keep engaging with people once this is all over.”
As for his own workload, it remains just as heavy, but Bergstrom, wary of burnout, is trying to maintain more of a balance.
“I’m down to 80 hours a week now,” he said, “which feels a lot more manageable.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
