Rob DuMont

❗️/1. Russian air defense most likely caused the crash of an Embraer 190 passenger plane during UAV attack on Chechnya: An Embraer 190 passenger plane belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines crashed this morning. 67 passengers of which 5 crew members were on board. 32 people survived the crash. All survivors were in the tail section of the plane. 🧵

Bring it on.

“Resources must shift from driver’s ed, licensing exams, laws against DWI, car inspections, road maintenance, vehicle safety standards, car seats and seat belts, to souping up surgical and neuro ICUs, as we expect flying through windshields to become a ‘new normal.’” -Leana Wen

One of the reasons I have been so irritable and sometimes angry when debating COVID-19 with others is that many of my detractors, in addition to using ad hominems and disparaging my reputation, failed to understand my area of expertise properly and didn't stay on top of emerging evidence in the scientific literature. In fact, they failed to even understand the significance and imbalanced risk profile of the positions they were arguing. As a hypothetical scenario, if someone stands in front of you holding a gun to your head and two people appear to advise you what to do, person A might advise you that the gun is probably empty and not to worry about the threat, while person B might advise you to step out of the way. If person A is wrong, they will suffer no consequences for advising you to gamble on what is in fact a catastrophic risk for you. The shooter is the one prosecuted for murder, while person A might walk away with a mild feeling of guilt. Our response to COVID-19 was often treated as a debating competition by academics who failed to consider the implications if they were wrong. I'm going to single out Jeremy Kamil because he made numerous unequivocal statements about SARS-CoV-2's ability to infect lymphocytes. In January 2023, Dr Kamil said SARS-CoV-2 does not infect or exhaust T cells. This is despite scientific evidence having been published in 2022 that showed infection of T AND B lymphocytes in vitro and in vivo. Dr Kamil's assertions were wrong and I have to assume they were borne out of ignorance, because the alternative would be too reprehensible. The scientific community is small, and there will have been a number of academics and members of the general public, perhaps even journalists who were influenced by Dr Kamil's baseless assurances. We know he consulted for Pfizer by his own admission, and he also posted he would not be getting a booster. He attacked Deepti and I for claiming boosters would be needed. He might have assured Pfizer boosters would not be needed, but I speculate. Just as recently as April 2023 Kamil was proclaiming that T cells are not exhausted by sars cov 2. With leading immunologists now accepting my hypothesis about widespread T cell exhaustion as plausible, and Pfizer publishing similar, with laboratory and real world proof of infection of lymphocytes, will the scientists who attacked me and downplayed the risk apologize for their behavior? Not to me, but to the general public who have undoubtedly been harmed on a massive scale. That means you and your loved ones, sick when unnecessary, with no virtue to come of it, just illness and despair. T cells and B cells play a crucial role in protecting human health. Before making sweeping statements about what is and isn't safe based on instinct and ignorance of the evidence, we should seek to understand what is actually happening to the human immune system as a result of repeat exposure to SARS-CoV-2, and until we understand it better, we should encourage policymakers to clean the air and normalize mask wearing as protections against infection.

By the way, I have no idea where I got Covid. Yes, I’ve been on clinical service but haven’t had any Covid patients. And I wear a KN95 in clinical areas. Outside of patient care, I have taken my mask off for meetings in non-crowded rooms… (20/22)

Predicted (black) excess COVID deaths, all-cause mortality (blue), reported COVID deaths SK, AB, BC

“Dr. John Conly is a changemaker, a collaborator and a humanitarian. Through his dedication to creating positive change, he has advanced the study of medical epidemiology and has dramatically influenced infection prevention and control globally.” 🤷🏻‍♂️ One day the world will recognise his tragic role in hindering a rational response to SARS and other AIRBORNE pathogens, and his influence in WHO and the IPAC community and their failing to learn the lessons that could have saved humanity from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A recent insightful commentary that that needs to be widely disseminated. We desperately need to learn the lessons - understanding the history of how we failed to learn is where we must start….. “SARS1 Campbell Commission gave the Toronto ID doctors shit - pointed out their errors & scolded them roundly. The ID docs, Conly, Bonnie Henry, etc. have been fighting the Toronto SARS narrative & bending over backward to deny reality to rewrite history to preserve their version of the story & their legacy ever since. 20 years of denial. 20 years of droplet dogma. 20 years of anti-airborne rhetoric & biased studies. 20 years of fighting AGAINST the Precautionary Principle. 20 years of silo, groupthink, circle the wagons, defend the bastion isolationism. 20 years of demanding power & putting down dissenting voices. 20 years of entrenchment. Hell hath no fury like an ID scorned. It's all about self-preservation of the IDs - not about the patients or HCWs. They can't allow SARS2 to be airborne. They are way too invested in the alternative. The Toronto IDs make up PHO - Provincial Health Ontario - which sets the rules for Infection Control. PHO denied nurses access to N95s. The Ontario Nurses Association sued the PHO / Provincial govt to get N95s for HCWs. Dr Leis from Sunnybrook testified in court that: 1. SARS2 was not airborne 2. HCWs do not need N95s 3. If a nurse did feel she needed an N95 she was free to self advocate thru a Personal Care Risk Assessment (PCRA) process to lobby to get one on a per patient case basis. 4. PCRA met the definition of the Precautionary Principle. None of those things is true. 29 Toronto area IDs signed affidavits of support of the PHO / Dr Leis position to prevent frontline nurses & other HCWs from getting N95s. The nurses lost. 😢 Now, the culture in Ontario hospitals is such that HCWs are afraid to even ask for an N95. They are treated as pariahs for not confirming. N95s are essentially under lock & key. Begging a Supervisor for an N95 is a career limiting move. Surgical masks are everywhere. At the hospital I was just in this week, the floor has to "budget" (ration) their N95s. Not because N95s are scarce. They're not. Not because N95s are expensive. They're not. In fact, M95s are free to Ontario hospitals courtesy of a joint provincial / federal contract where taxpayers have prepaid & warehoused 100s of millions of N95s. But the typical frontline HCW believes N95s are gold so they do their duty to their employer & just wear surgical masks. It's pathetic. Very few Toronto IDs break from the pack. If so, they are treated with disdain by the IDs & govt as being disloyal. It's sickening.”

Safe to say Covid is tearing many families apart 💔