1⃣
First, improve the process for the WHO’s declaration of a public health emergency.
2⃣
Second, countries should agree on common standards for data collection and dissemination during a pandemic, to inform responses and enable relevant research to be undertaken.
3⃣
Third, nations should agree to establish international standards for the recommendation of vaccine and drug approval in a pandemic.
4⃣
Fourth, nations should agree on procedures for investigations of pandemic origins.
5⃣
Fifth, and finally, regardless where the Covid-19 origins search leads, a pandemic treaty should include international regulations on research conducted on potential pandemic pathogens.
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The fact that COVID-19 first broke out in a city housing one of the world's few high-level labs engaged in bat coronavirus research means a lab leak necessarily must be on the list of possible origins until it's conclusively refuted, regardless what theoretical arguments are made
The CDC current says that 15% to 70% of COVID-19 cases may be asymptomatic, with a best guess of 30% (deets below)
So if there was a lab leak, there is a meaningful chance that the leak would have been unknown to the lab or the individual(s) who may have been a vector
To hit a 2% of GDP target for US federal R&D spending (i.e., same as peak of space race) would require annual $ increases of:
30%-->2026
18%-->2030
13%-->2035
10%-->2040
US federal R&D $ has been more or less constant as a % of domestic discretionary spending for >40 years
Data @aaas@MattHourihan
Meaningful increases in R&D $ > increases in domestic disc $ would represent the most significant change in US R&D OVERALL budget policy in a half century
So key to watch is if federal spending increases dramatically overall, cause R&D ain't gonna eat someone else's lunch
A Biden OSTP investigation of Trump OSTP and agencies is fine, let's learn lessons ... but it should not come at the expense of pushing forward scientific integrity legislation such as led by @RepPaulTonko
You might remember late last year a study was published arguing that hurricanes were staying stronger, longer over land, looking at 1967-2018
Headlines followed ...
New study looks at a longer time period-1900-2019-finds over the period of record that storms are actually weakening faster (non-sig downward trend), even after removing outliers
"There is no significant linear trend throughout the whole 120-year period"