Read on Twitter
In this thread, I collect the threads about #COVID19 #SARSCoV2 that I have prepared on various aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. Please note that the situation is fluid and knowledge may change and be updated. Feel free to suggest topics in response to this tweet. 1/
On the need for Americans to practice social distancing, and why this helps in the case of pandemic disease, by "flattening the curve" and allowing our health care system and supply chains to work — March 3. 2/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1234815826345197568
On the reasons for, and benefits of, reactive, and, even more important, proactive, school closure, even if kids do not often get sick with COVID19 — March 4. 3/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1235204443362205699
On how flu actually spreads in social networks, based on our detailed study of the H1N1 epidemic in 2009, and on how we can use social networks to forecast the epidemic — March 5. 4/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1235566497591742464
On how flu epidemics come in waves, and on how this is in part related to the weather, with preliminary data on what to expect for COVID19 — March 6. 5/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1235963670255071237
On how COVID19 will strike vulnerable groups, such as those with chronic disease, especially hard, including in particular those with renal disease on dialysis — March 7. 6/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1236407992112857095
On the astonishing Chinese response to COVID19, with a detailed description of the extraordinary efforts they implemented to reduce social mixing among nearly a billion people, with photos and anecdotes from colleagues in China, too. — March 9. 7/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1237020518781460480
On whether COVID19 can be transmitted by asymptomatic carriers, and the "quarantine loophole." — March 12. 8/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1238150077794877440
A short list of some things employers can do to decrease social mixing at workplaces — March 12. 9/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1238182853889777669
An assessment of where COVID-19 falls with respect to the pandemics that periodically afflict our species, and an argument that, in terms of scale and mortality, it may resemble the 1957 pandemic — March 14. 10/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1238934000187707400
My response to contrarian view by John Ioannidis, arguing for better data collection (which I agree with), but minimizing the problem we face with COVID19 pandemic (primarily because he ignores the temporal aspect of the wave hitting us) — March 17. 11/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1239969799981002755
On how people acquire immunity to COVID19 & on the crucial importance of being able to *test* whether they have had it in the *past* & are thus now immune. Such testing would be good for both individuals & our society, & should be free — March 19. 12/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1240689935557865472
On the endearing fact that young people are much less affected by the COVID19 pandemic than they were in past pandemics, which is a welcome blessing in an otherwise worrisome story — March 28. 13/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1243883141900763137?s=20
On the need for first-rate end-of-life care for COVID19 patients, especially if they are triaged not to get a ventilator, and on possible shortages of essential medicines to relieve pain and shortness of breath (e.g., morphine & midazolam) — April 4. 14/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1246549341789130752?s=20
When people move, they take contagious diseases with them. Their movements are thus a harbinger of the future status of an epidemic in their destinations. This offers the prospect of forecasting and (partially) controlling an epidemic — April 29. 15/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1255465996128849920?s=20
On possible occupational risks for contracting COVID-19. Do some workplaces, like prisons, nursing homes, meatpacking plants, and possibly others, have distinctive features placing their workers at greater risk? Why meatpacking plants? — May 1. 16/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1256335412349399041?s=20
In this very early COVID19 thread (alas out of order in this thread of threads), I discussed bias, which has arisen with plagues for centuries. I think optimal public health messaging ephasizes #ourcommonhumanity in facing pathogens — February 2. 17/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1224047769855414274?s=20
On the success and failure of the strategy of Sweden to manage the inevitable impact of COVIV19 by not striving to wholly stop its spread, in order to: build herd immunity, minimize the economic shock, and still protect the vulnerable — May 17. 18/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1262012815663149058?s=20
In this thread, I outline a cool new app we released, called HUNALA, that allows users to forecast their risk of contracting respiratory illness daily. Using network science and machine learning, it's like a traffic app for COVID19 — June 1. 19/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1267419153822109696?s=20
On the fact that the *reason* for a gathering is not material to the spread of a virus. This COVID19 thread went in various directions, covering harm reduction, protests against police brutality, and the politicization of science — June 5. 20/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1269033523354222592?s=20
On the fact that, as group size rises linearly, opportunities for a virus to spread rise supra-linearly, with a simple illustration (that ignores a lot of complexity) — June 6. 21/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1269257925991837698?s=20
On a fine randomized clinical trial showing that dexamethasone (a steroid) reduces mortality in hospitalized patients with COVID19, illustrating the benefits of flattening the curve by allowing doctors time to discover new treatments — June 24. 22/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1275910030567583746?s=20
On a natural experiment of an Austrian village hit hard with COVID19, and what this tells us about the infection fatality rate, attack rate, and R0 of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic — June 25. 23/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1276108130125066241?s=20
On the (possible) illogic of bringing only half the students back to a college, prohibiting all group activities, requiring everyone to do zoom classes, all to cope with the COVID pandemic, but then allowing contact sports to continue — July 6. 24/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1280192817323794434?s=20
On the likelihood of a vaccine actually shortening the COVID19 pandemic: we not only have to invent one, but also manufacture and distribute it, and have people accept it (with a historical note on vaccine distribution 200 years ago) — September 21. 25/ https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1308040894436777984?s=20
