1/ @RapportSA published a front page article this Sunday saying the lockdown could extend for 4months. It& #39;s based on a report by BCG, that& #39;s already outdated (published 25 March). BCG explicitly state it& #39;s a "beta" model that& #39;s not meant for publication or public dissemination
2/ I did some digging & found the report. In the interest of just showing how badly Rapport stretched to use this report, even though they never should& #39;ve (see pic), I& #39;ll just post slides from South Africa & brief intro on their model.
3/ Their timing estimate is primarily based on what China did along with country specific factors. They then calculate either 8-12 weeks after peak new cases based on effectiveness. But how do they calculate peak cases?
4/ They apparently use a standard epidemic curve (can& #39;t really comment on this, & #39;cause hey not an epidemiologist). Looks okay to me.
5/ But check their slide for South Africa. It& #39;s already heavily outdated. According to this we should& #39;ve have 1000+ new cases per day by now. So obviously you can& #39;t use this data anymore.
6/ Everything is moving at a rapid rate & reality doesn& #39;t quite line up with models. That& #39;s why you adapt & keep modeling. I don& #39;t blame BCG at all here. The lockdown timing seems arbitrary to me though. So mileage may vary if you think that every lockdown should follow China& #39;shttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤷‍♂️" title="Man shrugging" aria-label="Emoji: Man shrugging">
7/ But a quick glance at these slides would& #39;ve shown that doing any reporting on this is basically useless & frankly in my mind irresponsible. EVEN when BCG explicitly stated it& #39;s a beta model. Again, read the CAVEATS
8/ Who knows how returning to normal looks like. It& #39;s likely we are stuck with restrictions for a while. Fear mongering & clickbait sells. But just use common sense.

For now, keep staying home so we can keep proving the models wrong.
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