Broadwaybabyto on Nostr: Denying the severity of Covid & how it’s transmitted has devastating consequences - ...

Denying the severity of Covid & how it’s transmitted has devastating consequences - especially for children.

I’m reminded of a prominent AIDS denialist who let her 3 year old daughter die and narrowly escaped felony charges.

A thread on denialism & how it can literally kill.

Christine Maggiore was a high profile AIDS denialist who was HIV positive but believed the virus didn’t cause AIDS. She blamed the HIV medications - and as a result refused to take them while pregnant and breastfeeding her children.

Her daughter Eliza became sick at 3 years old and died of an AIDS related pneumonia- without ever being tested for HIV. Doctors who weighed in on the case expressed concerns of negligence on behalf of both her parents & the pediatrians involved.

They explained that had Eliza been HIV+ her pneumonia would have been treated with a more aggressive antibiotic which could have changed the outcome. The police investigated Maggiore - but in the end the L.A. District Attorney declined to prosecute.

Christine did not change her stance and continued to promote her AIDS denialism - at one point bragging that at least 50 women had “come around to her point of view.” She literally lost her child and still couldn’t see past her dangerous anti science rhetoric.

How many children were needlessly infected with HIV and subsequently died of AIDS? We can never know for sure. People like Christine & other AIDS denialists preyed on people’s fear & their need to not be responsible for infecting their children. Easier to blame the drugs.

We’re in year five of a devastating global pandemic that is harming far more children than most people are willing to admit. We MUST look back and learn from history.

Denialism, minimizing and anti-science viewpoints are deadly.

Christine’s behaviour is frighteningly similar to the “exercise your immune system” crowd. They fight against clean air, refuse vaccinations & rally against masks. They blame “big pharma” instead of considering Covid may be more dangerous than they realize.

Christine encouraged other mothers to avoid HIV meds and “trust their immune systems” & it had devastating consequences. Now we see parents encouraging repeat Covid infections as they chase elusive herd immunity. Refusing MMR vaccines. Organizing measles & chicken pox parties.

Children will become disabled and die - and just like Eliza - they deserve to be protected. We need clean air in schools (and school busses) and better public health guidance on masking. We need people acknowledging that COVID is anything but “mild” in children.

It’s worth noting that Maggiore died three years after her daughter Eliza of AIDS related pneumonia…. But never publically changed her stance on HIV. Denial is powerful & cognitive dissonance a hard nut to crack. But children are counting on us. They need us to do better.

We can’t wait 30+ years to decide to start taking Covid seriously. History will not look kindly on adults who could have done more to protect children from the harms of repeated COVID infections. Just as it doesn’t look kindly on Maggiore and the AIDS denialism movement.

#CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver #CovidCautious #ChronicIllness #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #AIDSDenialism #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth