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Eric Feigl-Ding

3 Dec, 14 tweets, 7 min read

⚠️RE-INFECTION CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE: 26-year old world class cyclist 🚴‍♀️ Gaviria caught #COVID19 in Feb—hospitalized for 2 weeks. Prevailing wisdom suggested he’d at least be immune for foreseeable future. He was wrong. Reinfected 8 months later. Worrisome. wsj.com/articles/the-p…

@VirusesImmunity

2) “We don’t know how long [immunity] lasts... I wouldn’t be surprised that the COVID immunity also doesn’t last very long when acquired from natural infections” says @VirusesImmunity.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1330111548870832129

3) That said, others point out that vaccines might offer better stronger immunity than natural infection.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1330111548870832129

@michaelmina_lab

4) As @michaelmina_lab explains, vaccine is more targeted to the #SARSCoV2 receptor while natural infection has a more “choose your own adventure” what parts of virus one develops antibodies to. Targeted likely better.

https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1330383383415943169

@michaelmina_lab

5) The analogy @michaelmina_lab explains is that natural infection can develop non-useful antibody recognition like to a less useful “pinky toe” part. While the vaccine is targeted to the spike protein that is critical in virus latching and entering human cells.

https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1330383677851922432

@BNODesk

6) the best REINFECTION TRACKER online is run by @BNODesk. They’ve tracked 26 officially confirmed cases so far (27 once they add cyclist above), with genomic comparisons of virus strains. Also 1167 suspected reinfections too. Notice the age ranges. bnonews.com/index.php/2020…

7) did the pro cyclist Fernando Gaviria recover fully from his Feb 2020 hospitalization? Oh yes. After his first bout, he won more 🚴‍♂️ races this year — Giro della Toscana, a stage of Vuelta a Burgos and a stage of Tour du Limousin. So yeah, he recovered. procyclingstats.com/rider/fernando…

https://twitter.com/virusesimmunity/status/1333445089243373569

8) Many originally didn’t believe that vaccines could be superior to natural infection immunity. But now it seems true. Another reason to go for vaccine rather than natural plow thru infection.

https://twitter.com/virusesimmunity/status/1333445089243373569

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1334594263183728642

9) there is something with vaccines we need to prep people for: the initial reactogenicity of fatigue that naturally happens. It’s a sign it’s working but it could scare people at first.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1334594263183728642

@BNODesk

10) Also, @BNODesk counts at least 7 cases of confirmed reinfections in which the second infection event was more serious / symptomatically stronger than first infection. And these are all *confirmed* reinfections with virus strains’ genome comparisons. bnonews.com/index.php/2020…

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1311052770364067841

11) REINFECTION RARE or COMMON? hmmm tricky— it’s rare but not super rare. How do we know? Luckily a team of scientists from WHO and Cornell did a deep digging for all reinfection cases couple months ago...

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1311052770364067841

12) Reinfection rate?

➡️incidence rate of reinfection of 0.36 per 10k person-weeks, equals about:

📌1 reinfection per 30k person weeks

📌1 reinfection per 1000 recovered patients followed for 30 weeks.

📌1 reinfection per 10k recovered patients followed for 3 weeks

13) Thus for the currently ~ 14,000,000 diagnosed cases in US, there might be potentially 1,400 reinfections every 3 weeks implied by the math. But we don’t see them likely because most are mild and genome sequencing to confirm them is rare. And depends on background rates.

14) Are 2nd infections “completely asymptomatic”? Of the confirmed cases, here are 10 circled reinfections, in which 2nd was more severe. Many other scientists have acknowledged this. bnonews.com/index.php/2020…

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More from @DrEricDing

Eric Feigl-Ding

@DrEricDing

5 Dec

@yaneerbaryam

New—I’m pleased to announce that to fight the pandemic, we formed a specia group to support Biden on #COVID19 pandemic response, a multidisciplinary task force called the ‘COVID ACTION GROUP’. 🧵

Here is our piece in USA Today. @yaneerbaryam @AliNouriPhD
google.com/amp/s/amp.usat…

2) this pandemic requires all hands on deck. It can be crushed only through a concerted effort that engages policy makers, business and community leaders and a public committed to the fight.

3) the involvement or resistance of the public and political leaders will make or break any national effort to beat back the coronavirus and resume life as normal.

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Eric Feigl-Ding

@DrEricDing

5 Dec

BILL NYE is still the science show king. And he’s got a mask lesson for you. #MaskUp #COVID19

2) MASKS work. Mask and airborne science compilation video

3) Masks are very effective against droplets and aerosols.

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Eric Feigl-Ding

@DrEricDing

4 Dec

📍WALL STREET BANKERS ARE NOT MORE “ESSENTIAL” THAN TEACHERS & 1ST RESPONDERS—American Bankers Association is petitioning to designate Wall St finance workers as essential workers so they can get #COVID19 vaccines before most Americans. Cant make this up! on.mktw.net/2VDFc4z

2) “We are encouraging public health authorities to follow the existing DHS guidance and include financial services employees as part of the 1b group, but we think front-line bank employees who deal with a large number of people every day should be gave priority to, at a minimum”

3) I think Wall St actually should be lower priority for reasons that most of their work can be done remotely, other than the limited number of bank tellers. But even then they often have plexiglass barriers to prevent robberies (and limit exposures).

Read 4 tweets

Eric Feigl-Ding

@DrEricDing

4 Dec

@Facebook

📍DESPERATE PLEAS for ICU bed for mom via @Facebook—A son frantically tries to find hospital ICU bed w/ ECMO to save his mom—by **publicly begging** on FB. Nurse+doctor from York PA sees the son’s FB pleas, calls his cell, offers to help—mom successfully transferred! #COVID19

2) Question is — how and why have we come to this?? That a son even needed to do this to save his mom is so crazy.

Link to initial post: m.facebook.com/shawn.rider.77…

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1334703963074158592

3) at this rate, we won’t have ICU beds or ECMO machines for long.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1334703963074158592

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Eric Feigl-Ding

@DrEricDing

4 Dec

Republicans bear the brunt #SARSCoV2 infections among US elected leaders. At least 81 elected officials in state & federal govt have tested positive for the coronavirus since Sept. 1.

➡️Nearly 3 out of 4 #COVID19 positive elected officials are Republican. usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…

2) “Republicans’ refusal to adhere to safety measures puts not only the elected officials themselves at risk, but also the public, health experts told USA TODAY. Those who hold office set the example of expected behavior. And it starts, they said, with the commander in chief. “

3) “We’re incredibly frustrated, angry, sad and despondent.” Like Trump piloting a plane on a trajectory to crash. “Epidemiologists who know how to steer this plane are pounding on cockpit door begging him to please listen, please follow the evidence. It’s a living nightmare.”

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