Elon Musk Tweets ‘The Branch Covidians Are Upset,’ What Does That Mean?

It wasn’t “Covfefe.” But a Monday morning tweet from billionaire Elon Musk included a term that can’t readily be found in the Merriam Webster Dictionary:

Yes, that term was “Branch Covidians,” which is not an official name or term by any means. The word “Covidians” seems to be a slang-ish term related in some way to Covid. Covid is short for Covid-19, you know that infectious disease that has already killed over 6.65 million people worldwide and over 1.09 million in the U.S. But what does the “Branch” refer to here? Is it a branch in a tree? Or perhaps singer songwriter Michelle Branch? Is it Deion Branch, the former New England Patriots wide receiver? Maybe Musk was talking about the branch of yet another company that has decided to pull its advertising from Twitter, after Musk acquired the company in a $44 billion deal and reportedly laid off much of the content moderation staff?

Well, presumably “Branch Covidians” is a play on the “Branch Davidians” name of the cult that was led by David Koresh. This Branch Davidians name came to national attention when the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) attempted to raid the cult’s Mount Carmel headquarters near Waco, Texas, on February 28, 1993, after concerns of child abuse and illegal arms possession among the cult members had emerged. This attempt resulted in the deaths of four federal agents. A lengthy standoff between Koresh’s group and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ensued, ending in the deaths of around 80 cult members and the Mount Carmel complex going up in flames.

Indeed, if you go to the Urban Dictionary, there is a definition posted by the “wandering healer” on November 13, 2020: “The far left zealots that believe everyone should worship a disease and give up their life in fear of it. The kind of people that approve of locking people in their homes and taking away freedoms.” Yikes. Holy cult-y conspiracy theorization and politicization of the pandemic, Batman.

Rather than sounding very healing, what the “wandering healer” posted sounded like a wandering attempt to somehow link following scientific evidence-based Covid-19 precautions with being in a cult. The definition seemed to be suggesting that public health and medical experts who’ve been warning folks about the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and trying to protect the public have actually instead been worshipping Covid-19. Yes, you heard that correctly, worshipping Covid-19.

Umm, how exactly would that work? Why the bleep would public health and medical experts be worshipping a virus that has been leaving so many hospitalized and so many with long Covid? Why would they be worshipping something that is keeping them from doing what they would normally like to do? It’s not as if public health and medical experts have been saying, “Gee, it would be great to continue working long hours without any extra pay and meanwhile take abuse from anonymous anti-vaccination social media accounts?” As Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and author of the book Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science, tweeted, many public health and medical experts have been working double-, triple-, and quadruple- time for the public good during the Covid-19 pandemic:

As you can see, Hotez told Musk, who by the way is the world’s richest human (or maybe second richest, depending on how Tesla stock prices are doing) the following: “This is unnecessary. Show some respect to those of us who worked tirelessly in the pandemic to help humanity.” While Musk’s personal wealth reportedly went from just under $20 billion in 2019 to up to above $250 billion in 2022, Hotez indicated that, “I didn’t sleep for 3 yrs to help make a low-cost patent-free vaccine technology for the world, communicating to the nation 3-10 times daily to keep American families safe.” Hotez added, “And did this for 3 years without financial compensation…just because it was the right thing to do.”

Similarly, Joy Henningsen, MD, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Radiology at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, asked Musk who specifically he’s referring to with the term “Branch Covidians” and whether they are the people “who mourn loved ones lost to Covid”, “who put their own lives at risk to save others”, “who endured abuse to share updates b/c everyone deserves good health”, “who are altruistic and protect others”, or someone else:

Meanwhile, YouTuber Liana Kerzner pointed out that Musk may be using this term to describe those who are wearing face masks:

In her Twitter profile, Kerzner describes herself as a poop-throwing unicorn wrangler, which presumably means that you should keep your distance when she is with unicorns. You should also try to keep your distance from anyone who may be infected with the SARS-CoV-2.

Although Musk didn’t specifically refer to face masks in his tweet, the implication of the term “Branch Covidians” is that public health recommendations such as face mask use are being issues for ulterior motives besides protecting the public. Only a nitTwit would claim that face masks and other Covid-19 precautions have been implemented simply to “worship a disease.” Scientific evidence has clearly shown that the SARS-CoV-2 can not only kill but also leave those who survive with persistent symptoms, otherwise known as Long Covid. Scientific evidence has also shown that multi-layered interventions combining Covid-19 vaccination, face mask use, air purification, and appropriate social distancing can prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2.

The “Branch Covidians” tweet was just one of a several Covid-19 pandemic-related tweets from Musk over the past few days. Yesterday, I reported for Forbes how Musk had tweeted, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci” early on Sunday morning. That got quite a reaction from folks who felt that Musk was being unfair to Fauci and those who felt that Musk was being unfair to those who have different gender identities. For example, retired astronaut Scott Kelly, who’s been to space four times, tweeted out the following response asking Musk to not mock already marginalized people and promote hate:

Kelly emphasized, “They are real people with real feelings” and described Fauci as “a dedicated public servant.” Musk, though, apparently did not have all the feels and shot back, “I strongly disagree. Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didn’t ask, and implicitly ostracizing those who don’t, is neither good nor kind to anyone.” Musk also claimed that Fauci “funded gain-of-function research that killed millions of people,” without providing any real concrete evidence supporting such a claim about Fauci.

Umm, the whole “force your pronouns upon others” is interesting. Displaying your pronouns to others isn’t like showing your genitals to others who don’t want to see them. And how many people really are being ostracized for not showing their pronouns? If your biggest problem for the day is being asked to show your pronouns, you’re living a pretty good life.

Musk’s pronouns tweet did get the word “pronouns” to trend on Twitter but perhaps not in the way that he, himself, might have wanted. For example, journalist and podcaster Kara Swisher tweeted, “Alternate take: His pronouns are actually Broken/Manchild,” as you can see here:

And boycott oh boycott, actor Billy Baldwin offered a zinger here:

One of the biggest tragedies of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the politicization of response measures and Covid-19 precautions. This has included the demonization of those who have worked so hard to try to protect the people and the public. Early on in the pandemic in the Spring of 2020, all of that applause for health care workers, public health experts, and scientists was nice. But it didn’t take long for a lot of that clapping to turn into proverbial slaps in the face.

Musk has more than enough money to make a difference in the world. He could, for example, provide funding for more Covid-19 research or help alleviate the overwhelming burden that health professionals have had to bear throughout the pandemic. Or he could make things significantly worse. Musk also now effectively owns one of the biggest social media platforms, which could make a big difference as well depending on how he uses it. On the tree of society, he, himself, could swing a lot of things upwards or downwards. The big question is which branch will he end up grabbing.

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