Thread by @profshanecrotty

1/ There are several major aspects of what Scott Atlas is saying that are wrong.

https://twitter.com/hholdenthorp/status/1309115311073918977

2) There is no direct evidence that pre-existing T cell immunity affects COVID-19 infections. LJI researchers and other have proven that such T cells exist, but neither we nor anyone else have shown that the pre-existing T cells make COVID-19 better, worse, or no difference.

3) To say it another way, There is no direct evidence that crossreactive memory T cells to common cold viruses affects COVID-19.

4) Here's our summary of the topic of pre-existing T cells and COVID-19 in Nature Reviews,

And the @ljiresearch @SetteLab @Dani6020 @ScienceMagazine article.

nature.com/articles/s4157…

science.sciencemag.org/content/early/…

5) We first showed such T cells exist in this paper, but we only SPECULATE that they may impact COVID-19 disease.

cell.com/cell/fulltext/…

Even IF such a pre-existing T cell immunity exists, it would almost certainly not affect herd immunity.

6) Even IF such a pre-existing T cell immunity exists, it would almost certainly not affect herd immunity. (We have a paper about to come out explaining this with @mlipsitch and @yhgrad and @settelab)

7) Even IF such a pre-existing T cell immunity exists, those people are still susceptible to infection. COVID-19 disease severity for them would be less bad. Consistent with statements of CDC director Redfield and Fauci that 90% of Americans are still susceptible to infection.

8) We have made these points and clarifications repeatedly, for months. In Twitter, media, and scientific journals.

nature.com/articles/s4157…