Is Long COVID really THAT bad? Set Lynn Parramore's grift aside

In a story sure to warm the cockles of People's CDC types, this interview claims it is.

Problem? If not entirely, to some degree, it comes off as throwing shit against the wall.

Specifically, blaming the uptick in car crashes on long COVID, rather than the pandemic increasing people's driving recklessness without a later decrease, yet more larger pickups and SUVs on the road, etc. In other words, like other pieces by the People's CDC and fellow travelers, no nuance.

Other problems abound. The interviewee, Philip Alvelda, has a "Dr." in front of his name, but he ain't an MD. Nor is his PhD in virology or similar. He does have two, but one is electrical engineering and the other computer science.

Likewise, interviewer Lynn Parramore has a doctorate, but in her case, the subject isn't even disclosed. Guessing, by the rest of her bio, though, that if not in semiotics (the study of signs and significations in languages) it's somewhere else in literary theory.

The website? Well, "economics" is the main part of the URL! Not "medicine." And, per its "about,"

We are economists and thinkers from a range of disciplines who challenge conventional wisdom and advance ideas to better serve society.

Uhh, yeah.

So, no, contra one other Tweeter on Sunday, this is not a "must" for all mass media to be covering.

And, any site that has both Naomi Oreskes and Jonathan Haidt featured up front will be "interesting." That said, in a lot of cases, sites like this just get some academic's research assistant to grok, give the boss a 30-second nutgraf, and get them to sign off their name. I highly doubt the site's 1,655 (and counting?) experts really, for the most part, have the time to give it the time of day. In addition, in some cases, such sites may try to act like interviewing gatekeepers.

And, Parramore couldn't find a single expert on the medical and epidemiological issues among those 1,655? Interesting, it's not her first long COVID article for the site. Three guesses as to the interviewee in the previous one and the first two don't count. I officially call shenanigans.

Meanwhile, it's probably time to post the Worldometers link again and remind open-minded people there is no new surge.