Dr. Céline Gounder, the wife of late sports journalist Grant Wahl, is opening up abouther husband’s death last monthat the World Cup in Qatar — specifically, her frustrations over the disinformation that spread.
Gounder — whose expertise is in medicine, infectious disease and epidemiology — penned anop-ed for theNew York Timeson Sunday about rumors that spread in the wake of the tragedy and the “vile” harassment she’s faced from internet users following his death.
Grant Wahl and Céline Gounder.celine gounder/twitter
“I didn’t respond to disinformation or harassment on Substack or on social media,” Gounder wrote. “I didn’t reply to the email that read: ‘Now you understand that you killed your poor husband. Karma is a b—-.’ I’ve received these kinds of messages before, including rape and death threats, over the course of the pandemic, but receiving them about Grant was vile, especially as waves of anguish threatened to consume me.”
“But when these disinformation opportunists recently used the same playbook to blameDamar Hamlin’s in-game cardiac arreston Covid vaccines, the dam broke,” she continued. “I knew I had to write this essay.”
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Grant Wahl and Celine Gounder.Grant Wahl/instagram
“As soon as the news became public, rumors and disinformation began to spread,” she wrote. “Amid seemingly inexplicable tragedy, there’s an understandable reflex to grasp onto narratives that could explain how something so shocking could occur. Even those of us who love Grant did so in our grief. But soon strangers began blaming Grant’s death on Covid-19 vaccines, a playbook I know all too well and a move I refuse to let stand.”
As Gounder explained, she knew “disinformation purveyors” would eventually blame her husband’s death on the Covid-19 vaccine, so she overcame “bureaucratic and logistical barriers” to get her husband’s autopsy done. When she got the preliminary results from the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner that his aorta had ruptured, she put out a written statement and booked interviews with theTimes, CBS, NPR, and beyond to get the truth out. Days after his death, Gounderwrote on Wahl’s Substackthat her husband died of the “slowly growing, undetected” aortic aneurysm.
In the essay, the medical expert called out the “disinformation playbook” of “fake experts, logical fallacies,impossible expectations,” and “cherry-picked data and conspiracy theories,” adding that “not a single qualified medical or public health expert has supported the claim that my husband died from Covid vaccination.”
“Grant will be remembered for his kindness, openness and generosity,” she closed the essay. “His legacy is his commitment to seeking truth through reporting, supporting human rights and fighting for equality.”
source: people.com
