Scientific American’s Laura Helmuth remains one of the most ridiculous dunderheads in science writing, a journalism adjacent field of writing that many reporters refer to with derision as “scicomm.” Earlier this week, a reader sent me this post on Blue Sky, with Helmuth promoting an article falsely claiming there was evidence to support six-feet social distancing during COVID.
There isn’t. Former NIH Director Francis Collins and Tony Fauci have both testified to Congress that this evidence doesn’t exist.
Helmuth shoehorns this narrative into Scientific American by ignoring Tony Fauci’s congressional testimony that six feet social distancing was “an empiric decision that wasn’t based on data” and then insisting it’s actually just a political fight between Fauci and Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican Congresswoman long known for making outlandish statements that often stretch the fabric of reality.
Just like Laura Helmuth.
Fauci’s admission to Congress that the six feet rule was not based on science and that “it sort of just appeared” was backed up his boss, former NIH Director Francis Collins.
In a transcribed interview with Congress, Collins also added that he was not aware of evidence behind the social distancing recommendation and he has not seen any evidence supporting six feet social distancing since the rule was dismissed.
But it’s not just Fauci and Collins.
Former FDA Director Scott Gottlieb told reporters back in 2021 that the six feet rule was never based on science. "The six feet rule was arbitrary in and of itself," Gottlieb said in a September 2021 "Face the Nation" appearance. "Nobody knows where it came from. The six feet is a perfect example of sort of the lack of rigor of how CDC made recommendations."
The Washington Post reported that persistent frustrations over social distancing and other measures might lead Americans to ignore public health advice during the next crisis.
Four years later, visible reminders of the six-foot rule remain with us, particularly in cities that rushed to adopt the CDC’s guidelines hoping to protect residents and keep businesses open. D.C. is dotted with signs in stores and schools — even on sidewalks or in government buildings — urging people to stand six feet apart.
This is just the latest example in a long history of Laura Helmuth screwups.
A recent BMJ investigation documented over a dozen social media posts by Helmuth promoting transgender care for children, despite scientific evidence showing such treatment has had “devastating consequences” for minors. And after she posted last year on X that “sparrows have four different chromosomally distinct sexes” the Wall Street Journal reported that X’s community notes had to correct Helmuth’s error.
