My brother is an amazing soul.

When the pandemic started and schools shut down, kids in Saratoga Springs,NY who relied on free school lunches for food, lost those lunches.

He, with his rather small deli in upstate NY started making free sandwiches for the kids.

Now this...
And this was the message.
This 👆is how we work together as a society to pull through this pandemic. This is encouraging and hopeful and shows off the best that humans can be.
Great job Daniel Chessare! - my brother and owner of Saratoga’s Broadway Deli, In Upstate NY. This isn’t meant to be an advertisement, but hey, If you’re in the area, stop by, say hello and get a terrific sandwich in his shop. He’s done so much for the community out of his wallet
Was NOT planning this but many people DM’d asking if they can donate a few bucks

Note, when I asked if he’d accept donations he said no. He’s a bit stubborn. I wrangled him to agree - if you feel compelled to donate a few bucks. Feel free (hope this isn’t against twitter terms)

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More from @michaelmina_lab

17 Nov
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Not All Rapid Antigen Tests Are Equal!

Please do NOT assume metrics same across tests

Some work amazingly well to catch contagious virus. Some not

If you hear a rapid test isn't working well, dont assume its same for all of them

It's not
1/
Rapid antigen tests must catch virus on a paper strip

To catch virus, test manufacturers use ANTIBODIES (yes, antibodies like the ones in your immune system) to catch the virus

They make the antibodies and embed them, in a line, on the paper strip.

Thus a line forms if +ve

2/
Antibodies can come in all shapes and sizes (sort of)

Point is, some antibodies are much more specific and strong binders than others

Some are just... sticky. Some much more directed.

Some grab the virus more tightly - these may be used on the more sensitive rapid tests

3/
Read 6 tweets
16 Nov
VACCINES can work!

Another #COVID19 phase 3 vaccine trial reports awesome results. This time, an estimated 94% efficacy

95 COVID19 detected: only 5! in the vaccine group and 90 in the placebo

But like Pfizer results - need to take w caution... WHY?

1/

investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/…
First, the amazing efficacy from phase 3 at this point for both @moderna_tx and @pfizer vaccines - both mRNA vaccines - is EXCEEDINGLY ENCOURAGING.

These results show that these vaccines are eliciting the correct antibody bases responses to stop symptomatic infection!

2/
What I am worried about is the time scale of the trials thus far:

The leading vaccines are presenting the spike protein to the human immune system. This makes sense! Immunize against spike and stop virus entry into the cells.

3/
Read 13 tweets
15 Nov
@elonmusk Great question! It’s more complex question and depends on why the test is being used - ie: do you want to know if you are currently contagious/risky to others or if you have any remnants of RNA? The difference may sound trivial but it is massive

1/
@elonmusk If the question is "Am I currently infectious right now when the swab is collected" then on *most* instruments/labs, data suggests a Ct value somewhere around 30 or below is needed. (Different instruments/labs are different - but that's a decent generalization)...

2/
@elonmusk If the question is "Am I becoming infectious" then even if you have a high Ct value... say 38... then it's important to test again the next day. If you go to 28, then you better stay put, you're likely infectious for the next 5-8 days or so...

3/
Read 10 tweets
14 Nov
NEW RESULTS:

Rapid Antigen tests work v well!

Not all are same - Some much better than others

This paper is a masterclass of how to study AND interpret the use of #COVID19 rapid antigen tests!

Best study IMO to date of how to think about these tests

medrxiv.org/cgi/content/sh…
The paper 👆by one of the leading groups in the world on #COVID19 testing @c_drosten.

The paper supports precisely what we have shown in our research for these tests to be used as powerful public health screening tools to slow/stop outbreaks

medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
The paper evaluates multiple antigen tests and finds a wide variety of specificities and analytical sensitivities

Drives home message that not all antigen tests are the same! These tests use antibodies to capture the virus and these will induce potentially major differences

3/
Read 11 tweets
12 Nov
Today - I’m excited about not just antigen tests but introduction of at-home PCR-like tests like @HomodeusInc that are in works

These will serve so many purposes!

A major one is as gold-standard to confirm rapid antigen tests in the home/school/work w/out need for lab PCR

1/
These tests will bring the full power of a PCR lab into the home! Or School, or work, or small medical clinic

They won’t scale as high as antigen tests in terms of numbers, but it makes them optimal for them to serve, in part, as confirmatory tests for antigen tests

2/
False positives for example do happen (not frequently) in antigen tests. Confirming w a 2nd antigen test is one way forward

We want to be sure a +ve in a nursing home is true so a person is cohorted correctly (otherwise a potentially deadly mistake).

3/
Read 4 tweets
11 Nov
Moving in right direction to reverse outbreaks

Here's how:

At-home frequent rapid tests

10M/day ->

pool 2 ppl/test ->

20M ppl tested/day ->

Ea house tests 1x/wk ->

140M ppl tested/wk!! ->

Herd effects: R << 1 ->

RAPIDLY SLOWS SPREAD in US

1/

medtechdive.com/news/bidens-co…
This plan can work with only 10M paper strip antigen tests per day in whole of US

US Govn't can produce / fund these tests. Ship to participating households. 20 paper strip tests per household...

3 are different (but look same) and are for rapidly confirming positives.

2/
We do NOT need all people to "buy into" the program. These tests are used in private (think... next to toothbrush) and need only half of a community to decide to participate.

So if 50% of people don't want to - they don't need to. Not mandatory... the plan still works!

3/
Read 25 tweets

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