John Johnston
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johnjohnstoned.bsky.social
John Johnston
@johnjohnstoned.bsky.social
330 followers 390 following 19 posts
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Reposted by John Johnston
mark-ungrin.bsky.social
Poor Public Health leadership in SARS, preoccupied with turf wars and controlling information to gain power instead of doing the job and saving lives poses a key question:

Why is that behaviour *so typical* of IPC / PH leaders, fighting to exclude "competitors" like OHS, science, engineering etc?
To some who worked with him during SARS his behaviour appeared puzzling. It seemed to them that he was more preoccupied with his personal authority as Chief Medical Officer of Health than he was with working with others to get the job done. These concerns include the observation that he would make himself unavailable if he felt personally slighted by the presence of someone he considered an intruder on his own turf. His supporters on the other hand suggest that he responded appropriately by staking out the authority of his office in response to the inappropriate presence of outsiders in the management of a public health crisis that by law and by bureaucratic convention was his alone to direct entirely by himself as he saw fit. It is unnecessary to review in detail the different points of view between Dr. D’Cunha and some of his colleagues as to whether he blocked the flow of information in order to assert his status and territory in a complex turf dispute among local health units, the provincial Public Health Branch, the Hospital Division of the Ministry of Health, the federal government, and all the other governmental players necessarily involved. What is abundantly clear, despite Dr. D’Cunha’s recollection that he always shared and never withheld information, is that a contrary body of opinion is held by some who worked with him closely. Perception, in a time of crisis, is as important as fact. Many colleagues ended up with the impression that Dr. D’Cunha felt that knowledge was power and the best way to demonstrate to others that he was in charge of his own turf was to show them that he controlled the flow of information. Having regard to Dr. D’Cunha’s recollection to the contrary this impression may well be inaccurate and may simply reflect misunderstandings. The problem is that, in a crisis, teamwork is essential and any impression that impairs teamwork, whether or not the impression is accurate, can defeat the common effort.
December 9, 2024 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by John Johnston
mark-ungrin.bsky.social
The lack of transparency is another aspect that seems to be permanently baked into the culture of IPC and Public Health. I suspect a consequence of the toxic politics institutional medicine is famous for, with "peacetime generals" wrestling for power and authority.
Problem 3: Lack of Transparency38 Because there was no existing plan in place for a public health emergency like SARS, systems had to be designed from scratch. Ad hoc organizations like the Epi Unit and the Science Committee were cobbled together. Procedures and protocols were rushed into place. There was little opportunity for feedback between the local health units, hospitals and the Provincial Operations Centre that oversaw the effort to contain SARS.A lack of earlier planning and ongoing consultation meant that those working in local health units were often directed by the Provincial Operations Centre to do things for which they thought there was no clear rationale. Many people regarded the Provincial Operations Centre as a full-fledged organization. In fact, it was simply a room that functioned as an operations centre. To local public health units, it was unclear who comprised the Provincial Operations Centre, what they did, how they made their decisions and what was their legal authority for issuing directives. One physician at the Public Health Branch of the Ministry of Health described the confusion as follows: I wanted to know who was in this POC, because when I would call them, they were just saying, you know, POC and I wanted to say like, Who Are You? And, I mean, not that it was a big issue where, you know, you’d imagine major litigation or but it was, it was a huge issue on a day-to-day basis on the clinical side is how do they make these decisions, who’s making them? Another public health professional who worked with the Provincial Operations Centre described how a local Medical Officer of Health was shocked to learn that he was legally responsible for the outcome of the implementation of directives – not the Provincial Operations Centre that issued them:
December 9, 2024 at 2:09 PM
johnjohnstoned.bsky.social
The lab leak should have consequences.
October 9, 2025 at 11:54 AM
johnjohnstoned.bsky.social
“Learning to live with measles….”
April 4, 2025 at 9:37 PM
johnjohnstoned.bsky.social
We need to understand the role of the likes of Mike Ryan and John Conly and their inability to deal with the idea of a pathogen being labelled AIRBORNE.

Failing to understand what happened at WHO and a lack of accountability from their leaders, means letting them go on repeating the same mistakes.
January 6, 2025 at 11:02 PM
johnjohnstoned.bsky.social
Hopefully many here are still interested in advancing the science of transmission and ending droplet dogma.
At the risk of boring many…but so important for WHO to really embrace the science to get any real progress in knowledge translation to the general public and governments.
January 6, 2025 at 12:33 PM