COVID thread


Here I’ll post material that tries to sort out the gibberish emitted by various government agencies and individuals.  There are sources I trust and I will identify them as such. I will post new material (with the date) below this paragraph.

February 23, 2022
Jim Holtz, retired physicist from Lawrence Livermore Lab, has done some number-crunching.

January 17, 2022
Stephen McIntyre weighs in with a long analysis of data from Quebec which is “in [the] midst of [a] draconian lockdown.”

 

Next, from Prit Buttar, a humanitarian story about breaking COVID rules.

 

December 26, 2021
First up, “Vaccines Save Lives” by the scientist whose image graces this post, Dr. Martin Kulldorff .

Next, a long thread by Clayton P. Cobb.  I have no idea what his background is, but this discussion is a good approach to talking to the vaccine hesitant.

 

December 19, 2021
James Surowiecki used to write the finance column for the New Yorker.  He came up with the following critique of some data published by the New York Times.  Good read.

 

October 7, 2021
Florida notes. Governor Ron DeSantis is running for re-election as governor. His opponent, Nikki Fried, has engaged in a smear campaign using slanted and incorrect data as part of her campaign.  Forthwith the latest salvos.  First up, Fried put out this press release:

 

DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw pushed back. Hard.

Pushaw Responses 1 COVID thread

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She was joined by Max Nordau who notes that n=3 out of 67 districts in the state is, um, a small sample.

Max Nordau COVID thread

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Florida’s surgeon general Joseph Ladapo weighed in:

 

Followed by the Florida health department …

 

… and the Department of Education.

 

Ms. Pushaw wraps up the discussion.

3 4 Pushaw COVID thread

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I won’t bother to go into details of the incredibly biased coverage from the Miami Herald and Associated Press (among others).  Head over to Twitter to read about that.

October 1, 2021
Alasdair Munro summarizes recent research showing the value of vaccines.

The study we’ve all been waiting for

Using data from >50,000 #COVID19 contacts, vaccinated people are less infectious EVEN with Delta, and EVEN if CT count is the same

Also, kids appear less infectious and less susceptible, including with Delta

 

Another user with the fanciful Twitter name “Cherry Roseae Rosa McGowan Funderbatch-Ding Davis” gives some background on CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and Anthony Fauci (who needs no introduction).

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September 5, 2021
The recent dustup about the shameful rumor that an Oklahoma emergency room was overrun with people experiencing Ivermectin overdoses has launched some serious pushback.  Let’s start with a statement from the hospital:

NHS SEQUOYAH Hospital statement COVID thread

NHS SEQUOYAH Hospital statement (click for larger image)

Drew Holden, unofficial documenter of the extent to which these hoaxes spread, has done his usual yeoman’s work on this one. Forthwith, Mr. Holden.

 

August 19, 2021
Alicia Smith explains the important role of booster shots and why they’re sometimes necessary. And Kirby Wilson explains the relationship (lack of) between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Citadel hedge fund, and Regeneron.

 

 

August 15, 2021
Got three today.

First up, that study out of Duke allegedly showing the effectiveness of masks for kids in school.  Starting with the lack of a control group, David Zweig thoroughly refutes this finding.

Zweig photo COVID thread

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Scott Morefield has some questions for the experts.

Morefield image COVID thread

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Finally, David Boulware describes the anamnestic B cell response and explains why it’s important.

Boulware image COVID thread

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August 4, 2021
Nate Silver debunks one “study” (not even mentioning that n=79 is way too small) and explains another that is much better.  Result: vaccinated people carry much lower viral loads than the unvaccinated.

 

August 1, 2021
Kate Paul Dillon weighs in with a remarkably readable explanation of why mRNA technology is superior to ordinary vaccine technology.  Excerpt (included with Kate’s permission):

A traditional vaccine is very broad in the way it creates an immune response here, because it will have multiple responses to this.

This is why mRNA is inherently superior, and FAR less likely to cause this case of ADE.

the mRNA tech predicts and controls for this binding site

July 28, 2021
But first, a long Twitter conversation about the research behind the CDC’s July 28 re-imposition of their mask mandate.  Read this carefully.  It looks like the CDC based their decision on a study that was rejected by peer review and may have not even used data from humans.

 

Dr. Martin Kulldorff COVID thread

Dr Martin Kulldorff

Dr. Martin Kulldorff (one of my trusted sources) noted an interesting fact about what happened when the mask mandate was lifted in the U.K.

After lifting lockdowns on July 19, UK COVID cases decreased to 32K/day, even though these five popular lockdowners claimed it would cause cases to hit 100K/day: @globalhlthtwit, @chrischirp, @SMHopkins, @neil_ferguson & @Keir_Starmer.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/five-experts-who-predicted-covid-cases-would-hit-100-000

Here’s the Spectator article linked above.

Dr. Kulldorff also noted the sharp decrease in COVID mortality:

In USA, #COVID mortality is now the lowest since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
COVID thread US COVID mortality rates
(click for larger image)

I’ll close today with an opinion tweet from Dr. Kulldorff:

Vaccine passports/mandates are wrong. It is unscientific to demand people with prior COVID disease to be vaccinated. They already have excellent immunity.


About Tony Lima

Technologist and economist. Semi-professional wine taster. Started working with computers in 1965, moved into desktop machines in 1979.

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