“Hospitals in several states are ramping up security and even providing wearable panic buttons to staff amid a wave of violent attacks sparked by COVID-related misinformation, denialists, and conspiracy theorists.” https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/09/health-workers-get-panic-buttons-as-covid-deniers-get-violent/
“…In Texas, health workers have also faced a spike in hostility and violence. In a press conference last month, the chief nursing executive for Methodist Healthcare System, Jane McCurley, said staff “have been cursed at, screamed at, threatened with bodily harm and even had knives pulled on them.” McCurley spoke just days after a tense confrontation at a children’s emergency department after a man refused to have his temperature screened before entering, according to The Texas Tribune. “It is escalating… It’s just a handful at each facility who have been extremely abusive. But there is definitely an increasing number of occurrences every day.”
Also: “With hospitals reporting historic nursing shortages as the pandemic drags on, the fear is that the “alarming rate” of escalation will be the last straw for nurses who are physically worn out after fighting a pandemic for 18 months, thin on compassion for people who need care after choosing not to be vaccinated and afraid for their own personal safety, said Houston pediatrician Dr. Giancarlos Toledanes.” https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/01/coronavirus-texas-hospital-attacks-health-workers/
RAND Corporation: “Truth Decay : A Narrated Video” (2018) https://www.rand.org/pubs/presentations/PT165.html
“Over the past two decades, political and civil discourse at the national level in the United States has been characterized by “Truth Decay,” defined as a set of four interrelated trends: an increasing disagreement about facts and analytical interpretations of facts and data; a blurring of the line between opinion and fact; an increase in the relative volume, and resulting influence, of opinion and personal experience over fact; and declining trust in formerly respected sources of factual information. These trends have many causes, but this narrative video focuses on four: characteristics of human cognitive processing, such as cognitive bias; changes in the information system, including social media and the 24-hour news cycle; competing demands on the education system that challenge its ability to provide students with the skills they need to critically evaluate information; and polarization, both political and demographic. The most-damaging consequences of Truth Decay include the erosion of civil discourse, political paralysis, alienation and disengagement of individuals from political and civic institutions, and uncertainty over national policy.”
Eideard 
“Hospitals in several states are ramping up security and even providing wearable panic buttons to staff amid a wave of violent attacks sparked by COVID-related misinformation, denialists, and conspiracy theorists.” https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/09/health-workers-get-panic-buttons-as-covid-deniers-get-violent/
“…In Texas, health workers have also faced a spike in hostility and violence. In a press conference last month, the chief nursing executive for Methodist Healthcare System, Jane McCurley, said staff “have been cursed at, screamed at, threatened with bodily harm and even had knives pulled on them.” McCurley spoke just days after a tense confrontation at a children’s emergency department after a man refused to have his temperature screened before entering, according to The Texas Tribune. “It is escalating… It’s just a handful at each facility who have been extremely abusive. But there is definitely an increasing number of occurrences every day.”
Also: “With hospitals reporting historic nursing shortages as the pandemic drags on, the fear is that the “alarming rate” of escalation will be the last straw for nurses who are physically worn out after fighting a pandemic for 18 months, thin on compassion for people who need care after choosing not to be vaccinated and afraid for their own personal safety, said Houston pediatrician Dr. Giancarlos Toledanes.” https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/01/coronavirus-texas-hospital-attacks-health-workers/
RAND Corporation: “Truth Decay : A Narrated Video” (2018) https://www.rand.org/pubs/presentations/PT165.html
“Over the past two decades, political and civil discourse at the national level in the United States has been characterized by “Truth Decay,” defined as a set of four interrelated trends: an increasing disagreement about facts and analytical interpretations of facts and data; a blurring of the line between opinion and fact; an increase in the relative volume, and resulting influence, of opinion and personal experience over fact; and declining trust in formerly respected sources of factual information. These trends have many causes, but this narrative video focuses on four: characteristics of human cognitive processing, such as cognitive bias; changes in the information system, including social media and the 24-hour news cycle; competing demands on the education system that challenge its ability to provide students with the skills they need to critically evaluate information; and polarization, both political and demographic. The most-damaging consequences of Truth Decay include the erosion of civil discourse, political paralysis, alienation and disengagement of individuals from political and civic institutions, and uncertainty over national policy.”
Full report: “Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life” https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2314.html
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 14th
“Threats, Resignations and 100 New Laws: Why Public Health Is in Crisis
An examination of hundreds of health departments around the country shows that the nation may be less prepared for the next pandemic than it was for the current one.”
(NYT) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/us/coronavirus-public-health.html
Alternative access https://worldnationnews.com/threats-resignations-and-100-new-laws-why-public-health-is-in-crisis/
“Factory farms of disease: how industrial chicken production is breeding the next pandemic
At least eight types of bird flu, all of which can kill humans, are circulating around the world’s factory farms – and they could be worse than Covid-19” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/18/factory-farms-of-disease-how-industrial-chicken-production-is-breeding-the-next-pandemic