Recall the #coronavirus chaos of “R0=3.8, actually R0=2.6, no wait R0=2.9, or 5.4!” —remember the pandemonium around R0 value when it came out last week? Lot of misunderstandings. My Harvard colleagues at @CCDD_HSPH break down R0, it’s meaning, and importance (Hat tip @mlipsitch)
2\ If all that R0 epidemiology dense math hurt your brain, rest assured the best minds in the world from @HarvardChanSPH to @MRC_Outbreak (a @WHO Research Center) and many other groups are working on ways to stop the novel #coronavirus. The best hope is for a vaccine 💉...
3\ Vaccine development for #coronavirus 🦠 is underway, including efforts to get one into clinical testing within 16 weeks! But it will take longer to prove the effectiveness. However, this RNA🧬 virus mutates quickly and a universal 💉 is not guaranteed. cepi.net/news_cepi/cepi…
4\ That said, unlike SARS and most viruses, this new #coronavirus seems to also spread and be contagious even before symptoms appear, making it extra hard to isolate and quarantine cases to stop transmission. bbc.com/news/world-asi…
5\ In the meantime, because the new #coronavirus is an RNA🧬-style like HIV is, there is another epidemic control option — using certain antiviral drugs designed originally to fight HIV to now fight the new coronavirus, and testing now underway. sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/c…
6\ For example, one company is testing its HIV protease inhibitors, for new #coronavirus, which was designed to block HIV replication, and previously effective for SARS (Though SARS is only 79%🧬 related to this virus). Other HIV drugs will also be tested. fiercepharma.com/pharma-asia/ch…
7\ A good graph of the global case total (til Jan 27th) of the outbreak. The figure is by @MackayIM, a great Twitter virologist also tweeting about the #coronavirus epidemic. As you can see, the incidence of new confirmed cases aren’t slowing down. 
