The guitar player of my band, LK, is one of my oldest friends. He can be headstrong sometimes and if you piss him off then Heaven help you, but he works hard to help those around him. During the peak of the pandemic I, as a hospitalist physician, worked in COVID units. As hospitals restricted access and patients talked to loved ones through a screen, LK was asking me about Hazmat-type suits for visitors and buying coffee gift cards for my coworkers. His motto is “impact (positively) your six-foot circle.”
Another acquaintance I’ll call S, was also raised to be a good person. When the pandemic hit and I took to social media to educate about it, S vehemently claimed the disease was overblown. LK and S both had questions about the effectiveness of masks and vaccines. LK and I had earnest conversations about ongoing research, the practical limitations, and impact on those close to him.
S, on the other hand, in response to my explanation of vaccine-induced immunity, responded, “You can write a novel about your research and what not, but you just have to look around to see that that’s just not true…You can believe the narrative, I’ll believe my own eyes and ears…”
I have been repeatedly accused of being a pharma shill and obsessing over a “narrative” by folks who refuse to look at any evidence I bring. In the book How to Talk to a Science Denier, Lee McIntyre proposes the question of “what information would change your mind on this topic?” If the answer is “nothing,” then that’s actually a narrative you have cultivated for yourself rather than “your own research.”
LK and I maintain varying degrees of faith in humanity by remembering that people have reasons that drive their behavior. Where LK thinks of his six-foot-circle as a reason to acknowledge and participate in public health, S uses his circle as a reason to ignore it.
The COVID-19 pandemic is not the crisis it used to be, but public health faces serious challenges in 2026 as our government health agencies are headed by people who ignore scientific consensus and the hardships we face in healthcare, while promoting unsupported supplements and policies. Outside of my clinical job, I devote significant energy to sifting through misinformation, reading and explaining research, and providing expertise (my own and others’, supported by evidence) to help educate those in my little corner of the internet and protect my patients and my loved ones.
Public health research (and the recent loss of funding for it) has never been purely abstract, but now more than ever the consequences of that loss are exceedingly apparent as we see measles outbreaks across the country (and are seeing reminders that even mild cases can severe consequences). We even had two measles cases identified in Erie County in June. Other preventable diseases are having surges, too, and these and other issues are leading to significant burdens on our healthcare system and healthcare workers.
It is more important than ever that we look out for each other and our patients as much as ourselves and our families. Healthcare has only become more political in 2026, but as Dr. Jeremy Faust said in a recent post on his blog, Inside Medicine, it is only the politics that have changed – the science has not. Get yourself and your loved ones up to date on all available vaccines, and impact your six-foot circle positively through public health.
Joseph S. Thomas, MD FHM
Assistant Chair, Department of Internal Medicine