Thread by @whippletom

And on this edifying note, I'm signing out of twitter. I'm off on much-delayed paternity leave. I was meant to do it last year, but decided to delay until the pandemic was over. Not tweeting until the autumn.

In the meantime, everyone is cross. Here is covid stuff that's great:

https://twitter.com/whippletom/status/1419675421495500805

The covid dashboard, coronavurus.data.gov.uk, by @Pouriaaa and @statsgeekclare and doubtless loads of others. Clear, invaluable and does exactly what it should.

The variant technical group, with @meera_chand , @jcbarret, @PHE_uk and others. Absolutely stunning. Basically mathematical witchcraft, calculating all the crucial efficacy and transmissibility data on the fly, amid massive uncertainty google.com/url?sa=t&sourc…

Cog-uk - in march 2020 a bunch of geneticists wondered how they could help. They set up the first system in the world to track genetics of a pathogen in real time across a country. Some people thought it was pointless, then the Kent variant came along...
thetimes.co.uk/article/how-br…

This chap, who got the Pfizer jab, after inventing its lipid delivery system 50 years earlier. He didn't tell the nurse

thetimes.co.uk/article/profes…

Comix. Right right right at the start, John Edmunds and others at @LSHTM realised we needed to know what social distancing was doing. They came up with a survey with a simple aim - to ask people how many people they spoke to the day before.

The Oxford vaccine, and mini cheddars. thetimes.co.uk/article/the-ox…

The recovery trial, which found a drug that saved hundreds of thousands - starting on a London bus (with @PeterHorby, by @rhysblakely)

thetimes.co.uk/article/inside…

Sage: they work for free, knowing that half the country hate them. They didn't want this, and there are a lot of good people doing 18 hour days thetimes.co.uk/article/we-ris…

Indy sage, and @Sir_David_King . They pushed early for transparency, when it was needed.

thetimes.co.uk/article/sir-da…

The modellers. They predicted a large wave 1 when some said we had herd immunity. They predicted a large wave 2 when many said it was over. They predicted a large wave 3 when perhaps most did.

And everyone hates them.

I'm sure there are loads more,!

Oh I forgot, @ONS and react from @imperialcollege , with @SRileyIDD . Of course it's completely obvious we needed a random population infection survey. Yet most countries have none. We have two. Thanks for all your nice messages!