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There's a Coronavirus study being done by Stanford Medical, testing an interesting theory that CoV-SARS-2 was present in California last fall. There's reasons to be skeptical about the theory and the study. (Note: I am not a real scientist or a doctor.) 1/9
Here's some info on the theory: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/coronavirus-pandemic-california-herd-immunity/
And the study: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Study-investigates-if-COVID-19-came-to-Calif-in-15187085.php 2/9
And the study: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Study-investigates-if-COVID-19-came-to-Calif-in-15187085.php 2/9
There's no evidence (yet) of a fall California strain. We have a lot of information about the history of the virus thanks to genetic sequencing. You can see a sample tree at https://nextstrain.org/ncov/global 3/9
The Nextstrain charts demonstrate the theory the virus originated in China in December. There's no evidence here of a mystery strain circulating in California months earlier. 4/9
Second, the leads on the study named in the SF Chronicle article seem to come to the study with a bias. 5/9
Eran Bendavid is frequently quoted downplaying the danger of Covid-19, such as his Mar 24 WSJ editorial. It's reasonable scientific skepticism, but it's definitely against the consensus. https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-the-coronavirus-as-deadly-as-they-say-11585088464 6/9
Victor Davis Hanson is not a medical scientist, he's a military historian at the right wing Hoover Institute. He writes editorials like this: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/coronavirus-after-us-roaring-giant-crybaby-victor-davis-hanson 7/9
I can't evaluate the quality of the science they're doing. But I can read between the lines of the story, the way their theory reinforces the right wing's bizarre insistence this disease isn't that dangerous. 8/9
As long as the medical study is done correctly with unbiased interpretation, it will contribute truth and science to the discussion. But until the results are published please have some skepticism on the theory. 9/9
My very first tweetstorm and an embarrassing typo in the first sentence. SARS-CoV-2, not CoV-SARS-2. Ugh.
(Related: is there a good tweetstorm writing and posting tool? Doing this by hand is bad.)
(Related: is there a good tweetstorm writing and posting tool? Doing this by hand is bad.)
