I usually try to keep my vocation (biotechnology - currently COVID19 antibody test technology) and avocation (NC political hell-raising) separate. But since GOP state Sen. Phil Berger has just unleashed bad politics on good science, allow me to unpack this for you (1/8) #ncpol https://twitter.com/SenatorBerger/status/1249791819782684672

(2/8) WFU is launching an observational clinical study, in which WFU hospital staff & patients will report daily for a yr their COVID19 illness history or symptoms, medical care, contact w/ sick people, & use of personal protective equipment. Details at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04342884

(3/8) It's a worthwhile study. And @SenatorBerger has contributed $100K to it from his discretionary @NCLeg slush fund. That's a smart no-brainer political move, using your tax dollars to score himself political points in an election year. But here's the problem.... #ncpol

(4/8) In a Medium article Monday, @SenatorBerger said the study "will help us learn if the situation is better or worse than the models project" & "will provide data to help legislators make decisions in coming weeks." But in his ignorance of clinical science he gets this wrong.

(5/8) As the scientists state in their http://clinicaltrials.gov  filing, the method of choosing participants is a non-probability sample. Put simply, that means it's not a random sample of the state's population. That's OK for the research's purpose, but not for Berger's.

(6/8) Since it's not a random sample, the study's findings will not fulfill Berger's goal of (in)validating current models of COVID-19 spread. And because the study will take a full year to conduct, it cannot guide legislators "in coming weeks" (unless we're talking 52 weeks).

(7/8) Knowing as I do the political naiveté common among academic scientists (I'm a recovering academic myself) I'm not sure the WFU researchers fully understand the devil's bargain they've gotten themselves into by accepting Berger's $$ w/o securing full legislative input #ncpol

(8/8) Berger's career is based on turning truth into lies; on science denial (e.g., a ban on the use of sea level rise models in NC coastal planning); and on sabotaging Dem leaders like @NC_Governor Cooper no matter the cost to citizens' wellbeing. He'll do it again here.