And when I speak out on behalf of econ graduate students everywhere I get 🗑 like this.

Martin’s apology was insufficient. Of course I don’t need anyone to grovel.

Public shaming of graduate students causes harm.

I have thick skin. This is about doing the right thing. His tweet is like misogyny bingo. Just the same inane and impotent arguments being recycled over and over.

Hate is so uncreative sometimes.

How can we use rapid tests to make Thanksgiving safer? We need to start planning now. Here's what we will need: 1. Enough rapid tests for everyone who wants one. Once supply ticks up people will stock up on tests since they're worried about future shortages. We need an abundance of supply to be sure tests remain easily available for purchase.

How accurate are rapid tests? Maybe you've heard that a positive result is no better than a coin flip. In some cases, it's true!

But learning that you have a 50/50 chance of having Covid is far more powerful than you think for controlling the pandemic. Let me explain. 1/7 Let's say everyone in a population has a 1% chance of having an infectious case of Covid. And most people make decisions based on the fact that their chance of being infectious is low. How can a "coin flip" rapid test help? 2/7

A thread on #scicomm for rapid testing.

Experts often focus on the caveats and miss clearly communicating the benefits of rapid tests. Here, @Abuttenheim provides a beautiful analysis but I worry it misses the mark on #scicomm to boost test take-up. 1/5

https://twitter.com/abuttenheim/status/1436430733963251712?s=20

Her thread: Tweet 1: "I'm 100% for pushing for wider availability of rapid tests" then... the "but".
Tweets 2-6: Mathy details about false positives that many will just skim.
Tweets 7-9: Hassle caused by the false positives. (Sounds like more trouble than they're worth?) 2/5

“Vaccinating the world is a classic collective action problem. Nobody wants to be the first one to make the effort. You need 2 things to solve it: a concrete goal and a convincing sales pitch."-@zoemclaren in @JInterlandi
nytimes.com/2021/09/21/opi… “What we’re calling a vaccine mandate is basically just a testing program with a vaccine exemption, which helps curb transmission. And people unaffected by the mandates will benefit from the ripple effects of higher vax rates." -@ZoeMcLaren in @NatGeo
nationalgeographic.com/science/articl…

Your regular reminder that the removal of all NPIs now is a policy of mass death.

Our health care system cannot handle it. Your regular reminder that remote work is an NPI.

Several different journalists contacted me for quotes for rapid test articles that then got "put on the back burner" because everyone thought the time for testing had passed. We need rapid tests at EVERY stage of the pandemic. And as an insurance strategy for the next one. It is never too late to invest in rapid testing.

How accurate are rapid antigen tests? Remember that rapid tests are designed to identify cases with a high enough viral load in the nasal passage to be transmissible – not to diagnose all COVID-19 cases. My piece explains: 1/8
theconversation.com/over-the-count… The Abbott BinaxNOW rapid antigen test may only detect 85% of the positive cases detected by PCR. But the key is that published studies found that they detect over 93% of cases that pose a transmission risk, which is what matters most for getting the pandemic under control. 2/8

A thread on new rapid testing policy announced by @POTUS @WhiteHouse today. It's a major step in the right direction.

1. Making at-home rapid tests up to 35% cheaper by requiring retailers sell them at cost starting this week. Medicaid will cover free testing for beneficiaries. 2. Using Defense Production Act and procuring 280M rapid antigen tests to boost supply of available tests and help bring prices down.

I got an mRNA booster shot in late June about 12 weeks after getting J&J. With the uncertainty around J&J’s protection against Delta, which is unlikely to be resolved soon, I felt more comfortable with the booster than without it. Let me explain. 1/9

https://twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1407334172042022912?s=20

There is a good chance an mRNA booster isn’t needed at all. One shot of J&J provides high levels of protection against serious illness, even with Delta. Most J&J recipients are surrounded by mRNA vaccine coverage which provides indirect protection. 2/9

Ohio is running a lottery to give 5 people $1 million each if they've been vaccinated. It sounds like a crazy idea but I think it's brilliant. Let me explain. 1/9

https://twitter.com/GovMikeDeWine/status/1392597516265435139

1. It creates buzz and gets everyone talking about the vaccine. That opens the doors for conversations that will help encourage vaccine hesitant people to get vaccinated. 2/9

Rising vaccination rates mean #COVID19 case numbers will fall a lot even before reaching herd immunity. And sooner than you might think. That’s because cases decline via exponential decay.
My piece in the @nytimes @nytopinion explains. 1/6
nytimes.com/2021/04/29/opi… Exponential growth means case numbers can double in just a few days. Exponential decay is its opposite. It means case numbers can halve in the same amount of time. 2/6

Abbott's #BinaxNow tests are now available over the counter. Many people are wondering about their accuracy so here is a roundup of what we know. 1/10 @michaelmina_lab

https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1384245889288466438?s=20

The short version: False positives are exceedingly rare. If you get a positive test, take it seriously. Several studies show that false negatives have low viral loads & are far less likely to be contagious. Rapid antigen testing catches the vast majority of contagious cases. 2/10

Unvaccinated people can fairly safely spend time with fully vaccinated friends unmasked & indoors. It’s a relatively safe way to make the pandemic more bearable for all of us while keeping cases down. My piece in the @nytimes @nytopinion explains. 1/8
nytimes.com/2021/04/16/opi… Data from the @CDCgov shows vaccines not only protect against severe illness, but also greatly reduce the risk of mild and asymptomatic cases, so they help prevent overall transmission too. Vaccinated people can get infected, but it is rare. 2/8
cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…

If you're at extremely low risk for a severe case of COVID19 why does getting vaccinated make sense? The simple answer is that you still reap massive personal benefits from getting vaccinated because it helps end the pandemic. Let me explain 1/8 Vaccines provide two types of protection: (1) direct protection to the recipient and (2) indirect protection to others by slowing transmission. The transmission-slowing component is a lot bigger than you think and probably greatly outweighs the direct component. 2/8