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Atomsk's Sanakan Profile picture
Atomsk's Sanakan
@AtomsksSanakan
Christian; Science, Denialism Debunked, Philosophy, Manga, Death Metal, Pokémon, Immunology FTW; Fan of Bradford Hill + Richard Joyce; Consilience of evidence
Maurice Politis 🕊 Profile picture rue de la Coussaye Profile picture Walter Foddis 💉💉💉💉💉🎹🏒🇺🇦 Profile picture HOMO PAOKUS Profile picture Brad James Profile picture 5 subscribed
Feb 23 • 31 tweets • 34 min read
71/J

I recently got a copy of Dr. Judith Curry's book without buying it myself.

Looking over it confirmed to me that it's largely misinformation.

I'll illustrate that by assessing its claims on COVID-19.



"11.3.1 COVID-19"

amazon.com/Climate-Uncert…
Image 72/J

To reiterate: Curry draws parallels between COVID-19 + climate change.

But some of the sources she cites suggest an ideologically convenient narrative misinformed her.

That becomes clearer when assessing her claims.




Image
Feb 17 • 72 tweets • 85 min read
1/J

Dr. Judith Curry recommends people read at least the 45-page preview of her new book.

I did.

It's bad enough I wouldn't recommend buying the book.
It's largely contrarian conspiracist misinformation.




amazon.com/Climate-Uncert…
Image 2/J

Many reviews laud the book without addressing whether her claims are accurate, likely because she ways what they want to hear.











netzerowatch.com/all-news/book-…
washingtontimes.com/news/2023/aug/…
Image
Aug 30, 2023 • 5 tweets • 5 min read
PapersOfTheDay

"Executive Summary to the Royal Society report “COVID-19: examining the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions”"


"Effectiveness of face masks for reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2: [...]"
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rs…
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rs…


Image
Mar 13, 2023 • 11 tweets • 12 min read
69/E

A reminder, since there's a resurgence in Musk + right-wing politicians trying to score political points by saying they want Fauci prosecuted:

Musk's dislike of Fauci drove him to post an easily debunked lie (57/E, 56/, 41/)


Image 70/E

Still no apology from Musk for falsely smearing Grady based on untrue things he was told, or that he made up.

"Elon Musk calls British diver in Thai cave rescue 'pedo' in baseless attack"
theguardian.com/technology/201…



thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-mock… Image
Dec 12, 2022 • 29 tweets • 27 min read
1/E

Some illustrations of the pseudoskepticism that overtakes many crypto / tech bros, using the example of Elon Musk's COVID-19 claims.

"My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci"


onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11… Image 2/E

No, neither chloroquine nor hydroxychloroquine worked for SARS-CoV-2.

Fortunately, Fauci recommended neither in March 2020.

9:12 - 14:41 :



Image
Jun 8, 2022 • 26 tweets • 23 min read
1/B

Thread on a myth Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) continues to peddle to undermine confidence in public health agencies and to suit his policy agenda.

The myth may undermine responses to future public health emergencies.




stanfordreview.org/the-review-int…
Image 2/B

Some background:

The infection fatality rate (IFR) states the proportion of *SARS-CoV-2-infected* people who die of the disease COVID-19.

The case fatality rate (CFR) states the proportion of *reported cases* who die of COVID-19.

institutefordiseasemodeling.github.io/nCoV-public/an…
Image
Feb 10, 2022 • 14 tweets • 13 min read
1/U

Wanted to address some exaggerations of a recent paper co-authored by Martin Makary.

"Prevalence and durability of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among unvaccinated US adults by history of COVID-19"
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…


Image 2/U

The paper shows that various non-vaccinated people had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2's RBD (receptor-binding domain) up to 20 months after infection.

Let's set aside the obvious issue of whether those people were re-infected within those 20 months.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/… Image
Jan 20, 2022 • 18 tweets • 14 min read
1/B

By deleting tweets in which one made false claims, one can present oneself as a "centrist" on COVID-19, while painting one's critics are "extremists".

Some illustrations of why that strategy won't work on sensible people.


2/B

Some basics:

- CFR: case fatality rate, or the proportion of *reported cases* who die of the infection
- IFR: infection fatality rate, or the proportion of *infected people* who die of the infection




Jan 8, 2022 • 24 tweets • 17 min read
A common vaccine denialist talking point is that vaccines might have hidden long-terms effects that don't shown up in the time-frame of typical clinical trials.

OK.

Name such a side effect.




brownstone.org/articles/lockd…
Image Re: "Name such a side effect."

Options that are off the table:

- original antigenic sin, antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), etc.

- Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS)
- myocarditis



@andrew_croxford:
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

bostonreview.net/articles/the-l…
Image
Dec 23, 2021 • 7 tweets • 7 min read
Usual warning, since hopium dealers will not explain this:

The anti-nucleocapsid assay used in this Gauteng seroprevalence study is prone to seroreversion. So the study would under-estimate prior infections in vaccinated people.


medrxiv.org/content/10.110… Re: "The anti-nucleocapsid assay used in this Gauteng seroprevalence study is prone to seroreversion."

This has been known for over half a year.



"South African population immunity and severe COVID-19 with omicron variant"
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
Nov 21, 2021 • 25 tweets • 18 min read
1/R

The usual suspects are using the paper below to say they were right all along about T cells + cross-reactivity:

"Pre-existing polymerase-specific T cells expand in abortive seronegative SARS-CoV-2"
nature.com/articles/s4158…


2/R

This thread will first address why the paper doesn't support the contrarian/denialist claims people made about cross-reactive T cells.

Then I'll go over some of my problems with the paper.

First, some immunology background.

Nov 16, 2021 • 25 tweets • 20 min read
1/M

The conclusion of the article below has become popular among some. So this thread will address it.





"Protective immunity after recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection"
thelancet.com/journals/lanin… 2/M

Some context:

The central (thought not only) point of vaccine mandates is to limit transmission. So in this thread I'll largely ignore the benefits vaccines provide to the person vaccinated, + instead focus on protection of those around them.

Nov 16, 2021 • 17 tweets • 12 min read
1/L

The ideologically-motivated discussion around this paper is *infuriating*, so I thought it deserved a thread.

"Association of self-reported [...]"
jamanetwork.com/journals/jamai…





2/L

The paper discusses "long COVID", which involves long-term symptoms from COVID-19.

Some other helpful discussion on the paper:

from @jeremyfaust: insidemedicine.bulletin.com/21898010028279…




Nov 13, 2021 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
Does anyone remember what happened to all the people who in summer 2020 were saying Sweden achieved herd immunity + HIT was low?

Any apologies or self-reflection from them?



"The dangerous myth that Sweden achieved herd immunity"
medium.com/@silentn2040/t… Image Re: "Does anyone remember what happened to all the people who in summer 2020 were saying Sweden achieved herd immunity + HIT was low?"

Because those same people now say "nATurAl ImmUNitY iS bETtEr!!".



ourworldindata.org/explorers/coro…

ourworldindata.org/explorers/coro… Image
Aug 27, 2021 • 50 tweets • 50 min read
1/E

@TheEliKlein is a denialist + COVID-19 contrarian who's been spreading nonsense for over a year. Unfortunately, CNN recently gave him a platform.

So this thread will expose some of his nonsense, while reviewing some biology relevant to COVID-19.

2/E

Some context 1st, so folks can recognize grifters like him in the future.

He ideologically opposes various policies that limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission (ex: lockdowns). That benefits him financially since it gets people to his art dealing business.

Aug 26, 2021 • 11 tweets • 7 min read
1/K

As an immunologist, this makes my blood boil. 😡

Anyone engaged in this dishonesty/idiocy should not be taken seriously on COVID-19:






Image 2/K

The nonsense started with @MartinKulldorff making the obviously ridiculous + false tweet in the image below.

When corrected on it by numerous people, Kulldorff followed up with another tweet later:


Image
Aug 9, 2021 • 18 tweets • 16 min read
1/G

Sunetra Gupta and UnHerd (@SunetraGupta + @unherd) peddled ideologically-motivated disinformation for over a year.

But her distortions are now too much even for UnHerd writers like Tom Chivers (@TomChivers).

h/t @brian_gadd



unherd.com/thepost/sunetr… 2/G

For Gupta's non-expert apologists:

I'm an immunologist, so Gupta does not know more than me about topics like herd immunity, antibodies, seroprevalence, etc.

I've been arguing against her type of nonsense for since May 2020:


archive.is/Xjyec#selectio…
Aug 3, 2021 • 25 tweets • 23 min read
1/U

John Ioannidis has a new paper on COVID-19.

He illegitimately downplays the number of COVID-19 deaths, which suits the narrative of those who downplay COVID-19's severity to undermine policies they dislike.

So... a thread.



link.springer.com/article/10.100… 2/U

Since at least March 2020, Ioannidis downplayed the pandemic's severity by, for example, falsely claiming SARS-CoV-2 has a fatality rate comparable to seasonal influenza.

That justifiably annoyed folks.



from @hildabast:
absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2021/05/31/pee…
Jul 2, 2021 • 14 tweets • 13 min read
1/H

One of the leading SARS-CoV-2 lab conspiracy theorists from DRASTIC, @TheSeeker268, has a new article. I want to focus on its discussion of miners since it shows how ridiculous conspiracists can be.





theweek.in/theweek/cover/… 2/H

Like many other aspects of lab leak conspiracy theories, the miners point was debunked for a year or more. But conspiracists peddle it anyway, hoping people are uninformed, or paranoid, or... enough to fall for it.



The point:
Jun 30, 2021 • 4 tweets • 4 min read
PaperOfTheDay

Contrarians should admit they were wrong about IFR in Sweden





"Multianalyte serology in home-sampled blood enables an unbiased assessment of the immune response against SARS-CoV-2"
nature.com/articles/s4146… Context:

Public Health Agency of Sweden:
"Globally, it is estimated that 0.5–1 percent of those who are infected with COVID-19 die"
web.archive.org/web/2020103000…

"point estimate of the IFR [in Stockholm] is 0.6%, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.4–1.1%"
folkhalsomyndigheten.se/contentassets/…
Jun 29, 2021 • 13 tweets • 12 min read
1/G

On other threads I criticized estimates of COVID-19's fatality. Here I'll highlight the best estimate I've seen:
0.9% from Neil Ferguson's team at Imperial College.

It's being falsely criticized again.
(h/t @thereal_truther)



tabletmag.com/sections/news/… Image 2/G

Ideologues often criticize the 0.9% estimate in order to downplay the severity of COVID-19 + evade policies they dislike. John Ioannidis resorted to that

judithcurry.com/2020/04/01/imp…
cato.org/blog/how-one-m…
freopp.org/jay-bhattachar…
reason.com/2021/06/22/the…

Image