David Lat Profile picture
22 Nov, 7 tweets, 8 min read
1/ I got tested today for Covid-19 antibodies today. I have good news, and bad news.

#COVID #Covid_19 #COVIDー19 #covid19
2/ The good news: I was sick in early March, we’re almost to December, and I’m still positive for antibodies.

#COVID #Covid_19 #COVIDー19 #covid19
3/ The bad news (which isn’t really THAT bad, or surprising): my levels continue to decline, and I wonder if at some point soon I won’t be positive any more.

#COVID #Covid_19 #COVIDー19 #covid19
4/ Titer is 2.25, where 1.4 is positive - so not exactly a ton (and a far cry from @ClementYChow’s 13).

#COVID #Covid_19 #COVIDー19 #covid19
5/ In June, my antibodies were at 4.3, and in September, they were at 3.2. It seems like a pretty linear decline (every three months, it drops by 1 point).

#COVID #Covid_19 #COVIDー19 #covid19
6/ Of course, antibodies aren’t the be all and end all of Covid immunity. See, e.g., this recent article by @apoorva_nyc about @profshanecrotty’s research, looking also at B and T cells.

nyti.ms/2UAQztD #COVID #Covid_19 #COVIDー19 #covid19
7/ But as I always mention on these threads, I still act like I don’t have immunity; I don’t go out much, I wash my hands constantly, and I follow the advice of my three-year-old son (video below).

#COVID #Covid_19 #COVIDー19 #covid19

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More from @DavidLat

17 Nov
1/ "How long might immunity to the #coronavirus last? Years, maybe even decades, according to a new study — the most hopeful answer yet to a question that has shadowed plans for widespread vaccination."

nyti.ms/2UAQztD
2/ "Eight months after infection, most people who have recovered still have enough immune cells to fend off the virus and prevent illness.... [T]hese cells may persist in the body for a very, very long time to come."

#Covid_19 #COVID19 #COVID
3/ As the article by @apoorva_nyc notes, "antibodies are just one arm of the immune system."

We also have B cells and T cells that "remember" the virus and fight it if it returns.

#Covid_19 #COVID19 #COVID
Read 8 tweets
14 Sep
1/ THREAD. Today I saw my pulmonologist for a follow-up on the state of my lungs, almost six months to the day when I got hospitalized with #COVID19 (3/16), and three months after my last check-up (6/8).

#COVID19 #COVID #Covid_19 #coronavirus
2/ The bottom line: although my lungs are not back to the way they were pre-COVID, overall they are looking good, and the damage shouldn't really affect my day-to-day life.

#COVID19 #COVID #Covid_19 #coronavirus
3/ First we reviewed my CT scan. The scan showed some lung scarring and "ground-glass opacities" (haziness signifying abnormality), but nothing major.

For any radiologists out there, here are the findings.

#COVID19 #COVID #Covid_19 #coronavirus
Read 11 tweets
12 Aug
1/ The latest in Alan Dershowitz/Jeffrey Epstein news (via @KlasfeldReports): in newly released letters, lawyers for Les Wexner "appear to undermine one of Dershowitz’s central claims against his prominent accuser Virginia Giuffre."

bit.ly/31JOMph
2/ Background: in denying Virginia Giuffre's claims that he had sex with her, Alan Dershowitz has characterized her claims as part of an effort to extort money from rich men, such as billionaire (and ex-Epstein associate) Les Wexner.

bit.ly/2DDpsJL
3/ But in just-released correspondence, Les Wexner's lawyers deny any extortion attempt: "no extortion demand was ever made, no settlement was entered into, and not a penny (or other consideration) was ever paid."

Their letter: bit.ly/30Nc7XW
Read 8 tweets
11 Aug
1/ The next hot-button issue in #COVID19 debates: the relative importance of #antibodies versus T cells in #COVID_19 immune response.

(If you're thinking this should be an obscure, wonky, data-driven debate, I have one word for you: hydroxychloroquine.)
2/ Some background. Antibodies are not the only possible source of #COVID19 immunity.

Or as this interesting @NatGeo article puts it, "antibodies might not be telling the whole story when it comes to #Covid_19 immunity."

on.natgeo.com/2DpoH6V #COVID
3/ Dr. Soo Aleman of Sweden tested patients who previously tested positive for #COVID19, as well as their close contacts. She found that hospitalized patients had strong antibody and T cell responses to #COVID_19 -- no surprise there.

#COVID #coronavirus
Read 18 tweets
30 Jul
THREAD. Here are a few thoughts on what it means to "recover" from COVID-19 -- in addition to my @latimes op-ed from earlier this month, which is all about what we mean by "recovery."

lat.ms/2ZSHWgf

#COVID19 #COVIDー19 #COVID #coronavirus
My main points:

1. Recovery from COVID often takes much longer than many expect.

2. Recovery is very different for different people.

3. Surviving COVID isn't necessarily a "happily ever after" ending.

#COVID19 #COVIDー19 #COVID #coronavirus
We often think of COVID outcomes as binary: survival = good, death = bad.

We focus a lot on COVID death figures -- as well we should, since 150K deaths is terrible.

But the death total doesn't tell the whole story.

#COVID19 #COVIDー19 #COVID #coronavirus
Read 20 tweets
17 Jul
I was in good shape before I came down with #COVID19 -- and I suspect I might have contracted the #coronavirus at the gym, to which I was going multiple times a week.
It's true my marathon-running days were in the distant past (I finished the NYC marathon twice) -- but I was still in good shape before #COVID19 landed me in the hospital for almost 3 weeks, including 6 days in the ICU on a ventilator, in critical condition.
I was not overweight, I went to the gym three to six times a week, and all my blood work at my annual physical was normal. Here are my before and after #COVID photos (I lost 15 pounds while sick):
Read 22 tweets

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