Share this page!

Adam Kucharski Profile picture
Twitter logo
24 Mar, 4 tweets, 2 min read
This is an interesting perspective on Taiwan (& glad it mentions data/privacy), although I'd like to see more references to what local officials were actually saying about approach in real-time, rather than what UK-based researchers later say it was: theguardian.com/world/2021/mar… 1/
E.g. from April 2020: "Covid-19 is becoming flu-like. It means that since it is highly contagious with many mild or asymptomatic cases, and can be transmitted through droplets and contaminated areas, we won’t get rid of this virus totally." telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… 2/
Taiwan has implemented several innovative, effective measures against COVID-19, but it will harm our ability to plan for the next pandemic if we don't look fully at how countries were interpreting - and acting on - available evidence in real-time. 3/
Another useful perspective on response in Taiwan (from March 2020): jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/… 4/4

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Adam Kucharski

Adam Kucharski Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @AdamJKucharski

Adam Kucharski Profile picture
16 Mar
Is “we couldn’t have predicted the emergence of B117” a scientifically accurate statement? 1/
I’d argue it depends whether statement is interpreted in general or specific terms. “We couldn’t have predicted the possibility of a phenotypically distinct SARS-CoV-2 variant” is clearly inaccurate (given some adapation would have been involved in its original emergence)... 2/
...but “we couldn’t have predicted a variant emerging when it did in autumn 2020 with B117’s specific characteristics” is entirely reasonable (especially as our knowledge of its characteristics is still developing). 3/
Read 4 tweets
Adam Kucharski Profile picture
11 Mar
Slogans aside, there are three broad approaches to COVID countries can take from now on:
A. An R<<1 approach
B. An R<1 approach
C. An R>1 approach

Let's break them down... 1/
A. An R<<1 approach means keeping R as low as possible with stringent measures until no local transmission. E.g. this is what Auckland and Melbourne did recently in response to a handful of new cases. 2/
B. An R<1 approach means keeping epidemic declining, although transmission may still continue for a long time as measures are relaxed. As coverage increases, vaccination could also 'buy' some additional reduction in R & allow more reopening under such an approach. 3/
Read 5 tweets
Adam Kucharski Profile picture
1 Mar
What could happen next with novel variants like P.1 in the UK? There are four possible scenarios. A short thread with some thoughts... 1/
Scenario A: R<1 for both dominant B.1.1.7 variant and other variants of concern like P.1. This is likely situation we're currently in, but staying there is conditional on slow relaxation of control & substantial reduction in infectiousness via vaccines. 2/
However, even if R<1 for a novel variant, there could still be a lot of cases to come before outbreak ends, depending on value of R: 3/
Read 9 tweets
Adam Kucharski Profile picture
14 Feb
I sometimes see people making the mistaken assumption that once a group that make up X% of COVID hospitalisations/deaths are vaccinated, it will reduce hospitalisations/deaths by the same %, even if control measures are lifted. There are two main problems with this... 1/
First, there is a trade off between level of infection in the population and risk reduction through vaccination. Disease outcomes (e.g. hospitalisations/deaths) can broken down into the following: new infections x average-risk-per-infection... 2/
If we remove 50% of the hospitalisation risk within a population through vaccination, for example, but have a large increase in level of infection, it could mean no reduction (or even an increase) in overall hospitalisations... 3/
Read 5 tweets
Adam Kucharski Profile picture
11 Feb
If you want to come up with a prior* for the possible long-term dynamics of SARS-CoV-2, there are two recent papers that I think are useful...

(*Prior: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_pro…) 1/
First, this pre-print by @eguia_rachel & @jbloom_lab showing that the seasonal coronavirus 229E can undergo 'antigenic drift' to partially escape immunity over time. biorxiv.org/content/10.110… 2/
As with influenza, they find a 'ladder-like' phylogenetic tree, suggesting that new variants emerge, become dominant, then are gradually replaced by subsequent new variants. (Influenza A/H3N2 below right from: nature.com/articles/natur…) 3/
Read 7 tweets
Adam Kucharski Profile picture
9 Feb
Suppose we have a SARS-CoV-2 variant that is inherently more transmissible, and another that is more likely to reinfect people who've previously developed immunity. Which will spread more easily? A thread... 1/
We know we can measure transmission using R, but it helps to break R down into four components - duration, opportunities, transmission probability and susceptibility - or 'DOTS' for short. As below describes, R = D x O x T x S. 2/

For example, if have a variant (call it V1) that is inherently better at transmitting during social interactions, it would mean an increase in 'T'. If it was 50% more likely to transmit per contact, we'd replace 'T' with '1.5 x T'... 3/
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @AdamJKucharski has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @AdamJKucharski!

Read all threads by @AdamJKucharski