Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #coronadeck
Most recents (3)
Reordered the COVID19 meta-thread by date.
2020.03: Introducing the #coronadeck, explaining what we knew about SARSCoV2 based on its 80% identity to SARSCoV1. Discussed evidence for masks. This was back when CDC and WHO were saying they were ineffective.
2020.03: Introducing the #coronadeck, explaining what we knew about SARSCoV2 based on its 80% identity to SARSCoV1. Discussed evidence for masks. This was back when CDC and WHO were saying they were ineffective.
2020.04: On why SARSCoV2 disease should have been called simply SARS2 or vSARS or even simply SARS, rather than the meaningless COVID-19.
2020.04: Wherein I appeared on CBC to advocate for mask wearing, because studies show it works to prevent viral infections. On the other side was a doctor following public health talking points, that masks were ineffective.
Here's a Christmas gift: Turkey says Sinovac's COVID vaccine is 91.25% effective. That's a prelim result based on <30 cases but it adds to an earlier announcement from Brazil of >50% efficacy.
This vaccine is an inactivated virus. That's interesting...
reut.rs/37MIOIr
This vaccine is an inactivated virus. That's interesting...
reut.rs/37MIOIr
Inactivated virus (aka whole-killed virus or WKV) is the oldest recipe in the vaccine cookbook. The 1st polio (Salk) and flu vaccines work this way. You kill the virus with chemicals, mix with adjuvant, and inject. APCs process and present viral antigens to activate B cells.
In early versions of my #coronadeck I suggested the CDC organize the production of a WKV vacccine. It's very simple and requires no new technology. So why did we not do it? There was a scientific reason but also economic/political reasons.
Many people have asked about mask decontamination. If you have a cloth mask, then obviously you can wash it with soap and water then dry. For surgical or N95 masks, it's best to keep 3 for yourself to use every 3 days to let any virus decay. But to actively kill virus... (1/n)
There are 3 methods for N95 (steam, heat, UV) and 2 for surgical masks (heat, UV). These methods kill bacteria too, so allow mask sharing. The results for N95 are summarized in the table below from Stanford colleagues. I will now discuss these 3 methods in detail... (2/n) 
The steam method is 10min above boiling water. For N95s, filtration efficiency drops from 97% to 95% after one time. Followup results show this drops to 85% after 5x. For surgical masks it reduces filtration after 1x (mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3QYVWO4kj5qw…), amount unspecified... (3/n)
