Prof Francois Balloux @BallouxFrancois Twitter profile

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Prof Francois Balloux

2 years

Our über-massive review on everything you always wanted to know about SARS-CoV-2, or didn't even know you wanted to know, or would have preferred not to know - but if you read it you'll know it (sorry), is out, peer-reviewed and open access.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

I should be qualified to comment on the covid-19 pandemic. I'm a computational/system biologist working on infectious diseases and have spent five years in a world class 'pandemic response modelling' unit. In this thread, I will summarise what I believe I (don't) know. (1/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

Interesting coincidence ...

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

This is not an easy message to convey, even to those who have have already accepted that zero-covid was toast. Essentially everyone will eventually get infected by SARS-CoV-2 in the near future, and likely more than once in their lifetime. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I had a difficult childhood, I went rogue as a teenager and did some really stupid things. Yet, I was reaccepted in society, got a free education, and ended up as a successful member of society. I doubt this would be possible today. I regret our society has become so unforgiving.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

"Kids are resilient" is one the most idiotic statements I've ever come across. It's also ironic that it is very generally uttered by adults who are anything but.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

1 month

Over the last 24 hours, Israel: - levelled a major hospital and executed doctors - bombed a foreign embassy - targeted / killed Western UN workers providing food I can't really think of any other international law Isreal could break that may lead to a reaction from the West ...

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

It might feel paradoxical to be very supportive of vaccines, and to be against vaccine mandates. I don't believe it is, as I worry we may pay dearly in the future any short-term gain in vaccination coverage that was obtained by forcing people to get vaccinated against their will.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

Health and the economy are closely linked. The correlation between per-capita GDP and health (life expectancy) is essentially perfect. If the covid-19 pandemic leads to a global economy collapse, many more lives will be lost than covid-19 would ever be able to claim. (12/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

1 year

The Covid situation in China is not looking good right now. The authorities have trapped themselves into a situation from which there's no obvious escape strategy. Whatever they choose - or will be forced - to do next will be very costly. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

I had never fully realised until now that the reason pandemic brought down so many empires and kingdoms in history, wasn't the death toll, but the fear, the sense of doom, the irrationality and the disunion they unleashed.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

The suggestion to administrate covid vaccine boosters to everyone, irrespective of age, health and immune status, strikes me as epidemiologically, morally and ethically wrong.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

From the left to the right, tonight, essentially everyone in the UK expresses their shock and surprise that the authoritarian views they've been championing for a year, might lead to an authoritarian state.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

The covid-19 pandemic is not just an epidemiological problem. It is a ‘Global Health’ problem, that can only be tackled with an integrated and global approach. For example, there is no such thing as a choice between managing the pandemic vs. protecting the economy. (11/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

"There is no getting 'back to normal,' experts say. The sooner we accept that, the better" This is possibly the most damaging message in terms of public health and I believe it is highly irresponsible to run such an uninformed headline. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

A powerful image that may become iconic. It will be interesting to watch how history unfolds over the next years in the UK.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

The most plausible scenario to me is for the covid-19 pandemic to wane in the late spring (in the Northern hemisphere), and come back as a second wave in the winter, which I expect could be even worse than what we're facing now. Pic below is what happened in 1918/19. (4/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

I believe it is time to give in soon. Vaccine protection rates are as high as they may ever be in many places, and now we've got a couple of decent drugs. Pretending we remain in control, of sorts, is just becoming too costly. 5/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

The zerocovid movement espoused: - Closed borders - Education limited to the well-off - A two-class society - Policies of repressive regimes - Undermining vaccines Zerocovid advocates may feel this is a price worth paying, but they should not present themselves as 'liberals'.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

I'd be most surprised if come next year, anyone may claim they supported schools closures during the pandemic. I anticipate so much back-tracking and so much revisionism, the more savvy actors are already pivoting ,,,

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I don't like tweets about 'Bob the antivaxxer' or 'Jane the denialist' who died in pain and in a last gasp, cried about their choices. I find it manipulative and disrespectful and equivalent to antivax propaganda. We should fight vaccine hesitancy with facts and appeal to reason.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Season 2 of Covid-19 has been pretty poor. We can just hope the show will be partly redeemed by the last episode scheduled for 2021. I suggest the producers end the show with this dramatic Omicron finale; there's no demand for a third season.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

Predictions from any model are only as good as the data that parametrised it. There are two major unknowns at this stage. (1) We don't know to what extent covid-19 transmission will be seasonal. (2) We don’t know if covid-19 infection induces long-lasting immunity. (5/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I suspect those overhyping the efficacy of covid19 vaccines, in particularly against transmission, and dismissing any rare side-effect, may have done as much to fuel vaccine hesitancy than ideological vaccine opponents spouting bizarre nonsense (5G, syncitin-1 or whatnot). 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Vaccine protection against infection is meh, though protection against severe symptoms, hospitalisation and death remains stellar (~20x), including against Omicron. There's also no moral failing in catching a respiratory virus. It's OK; it's life, which sucks at times. 3/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

The moral panic during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s fuelled enormous homophobia. I find it troubling that largely similar dynamics seem at play during COVID-19, just scapegoating different sections of society.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

This preprint is a bit of a bombshell. The results point to natural infection affording longer-lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization due to the SARSCoV2 Delta variant than vaccine-induced immunity. 1/

Comparing SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity to vaccine-induced immunity: reinfections versus breakthrough...

Background Reports of waning vaccine-induced immunity against COVID-19 have begun to surface. With that, the comparable long-term protection conferred by previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 remains...

www.medrxiv.org

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

I believe that the covid-19 pandemic is the most serious global public health threat humanity faced since the 1918/19 influenza pandemic. There are major differences between the two events but I suspect there will also be similarities that may emerge once we look back. (3/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

Democracy rarely dies under the jackboots of tyrants with funny moustaches. Rather, democracy tends to die when societies start believing that the truth is getting in the way of the greater good.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

Over the last weeks, a substantial amount of new evidence has become available about immunity to #SARSCoV2 . This information can be difficult to process and integrate. As such I felt it may be helpful to write a thread to summarise the information and provide some context. (1/13)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

Authoritarian ideas rarely originate from bad intentions. They tend to be championed by idealists who believe they know better and that their dream destination justifies the means. Authoritarians ideas thrive in times of moral crisis, fear and anger, and linger on afterwards.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

I feels extraordinary, and remarkably depressing, that our collective response to the COVID rapidly degenerated into a culture war of sorts, where we wasted more time and energy fighting each others' 'ideologies', rather than trying to deal with the challenges of the pandemic.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

7 months

@BarakRavid Leave to where?

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

After having spent considerable time thinking how to mitigate and manage this pandemic, and analysing the available data. I failed to identify the best course of action. Even worse, I'm not sure there is such a thing as an acceptable solution to the problem we are facing. (2/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I suggest everyone tries to calm down with the #SARSCoV2 'variant scare stories' as this is getting a bit ridiculous. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

I dedicated my life to infectious diseases largely because I lost my sister to HIV/AIDS. I have a child under lifelong immunosuppressive drugs. I've agonised for endless hours over preventible deaths. Thus, f*ck off, and f*ck off again, and please spare me your faux-concerns.

David Wright

@iminhobengoshi

2 years

@BallouxFrancois You post 5 tweets, but somehow don't have room to acknowledge what you are actually saying: @BalouxFrancois : "I know 2% will die, maybe 60% of over 80s and immunocompromised, maybe 5% will be totally disabled by long COVID. Tant pis, c'est la vie." Go ahead, say it.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

“Arguing that you don't care about the downsides of vaccine passports because you have been, or are being, vaccinated is no different than saying you don't care about health discrimination because you are healthy and financially well off."

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

11 months

I've just been asked to "fact check" bits of RFKJr's interview on Rogan's show by a journalist. I was sent a list of 9 statements he made. 1 was correct, 1 was unlikely, 4 had no supporting evidence, and 3 were - space lizard rule the earth level - totally bonkers. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

Over the coming weeks and months, we can expect a large number of preprints and papers reporting 'breakthrough infections', i.e. infections in vaccinated individuals. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

How long immunity lasts for following covid-19 infection is the biggest unknown. Comparison with other Coronaviridae suggests it may be relatively short-lived (i.e. months). If this were to be confirmed, it would add to the challenge of managing the pandemic. (7/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

By far my biggest regret during the pandemic is that Covid vaccines were sold to the public as transmission-blocking, which, everyone should have known from the beginning wouldn't likely be the case. 1/

Axios

@axios

3 years

Moderna Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks warns on #AxiosOnHBO to not "over-interpret" vaccine results: "They do not show that they prevent you from potentially carrying this virus...and infecting others." Adding, we shouldn't "change behaviors solely on the basis of vaccination."

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

To get to the other end of the pandemic as unscathed as possible. The world needs more: - cautious optimism - realistic endpoints - empathy / compassion - acknowledgment of uncertainty And less: - doom & gloom - dystopian predictions - blame / ostracism - dogmatism / ideology

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

It is completely beyond me how anyone could think that spreading despair and hopelessness may be a helpful public health strategy. Also, some sense of history and context may help. Ever heard of the 'Roaring Twenties' that followed the 1918/20 pandemic that killed 50-100M?

Dr. Tom Frieden

@DrTomFrieden

4 years

We're not going back to a pre-Covid world anytime soon. The quicker we accept that, the more we can reduce deaths and economic disruption.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

Short-lived immunisation would defeat both ‘flattening the curve’ and ‘herd immunity’ approaches. Devising an effective strategy would be even more challenging under low seasonal forcing. It would also considerably complicate effective vaccination campaigns. (8/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 months

A crucial cog in any genocidal machine, be it Nazi Germany, communist Russia, Rwanda or else, is the intellectual who argues that the 'others' are subhumans.

Gad Saad

@GadSaad

2 months

Can you name ten historical Palestinians from say the past 200 years, and their areas of excellence?

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

He said: "The pandemic will come to an end and we will eventually be able to lift all restrictions." They screamed: "How can you say such a horrible thing, you dystopian, fascist, racist, eugenist ..." 🤔 ...

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 months

Whatever the future ICJ/ICC rulings may bring, I'm now convinced that Israel's response to the Oct 7 atrocities qualifies as a genocide, in its intent, effect and result. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Fear is easy to stoke and difficult to quell, and the end result is rarely pretty. Pandemic responses built on fear were misguided. Those in power who pushed for them because they were afraid themselves, failed in their leadership duties; those who weren't afraid, failed morally.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

For the next pandemic, I suggest that everyone, the general public, politicians, journalists and scientists get a crash course in probability, statistics and experimental design at the start. It might not save that many lives, but it would at least elevate the debate.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I really don't mind robust debate. I don't even mind being proven wrong by a superior argument or the emergence of better evidence. Though, what I deeply resent are toxic, ideological fights completely disregarding the wellbeing of the youngest and most vulnerable in society.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

One can don an FFP2, FFP3, N95 mask, or a hazmat suit, or whatnot, but at this stage, all this may achieve is to delay the time until some of us will get infected, and thereby marginally prolong the pandemic. 2/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I commented on this piece before but I may have failed to convey how nauseating I found it. The science behind it - if there were any - is shoddy at best, but pushing the idea that children are "disease reservoirs" for adults, like ticks, fleas or cockroaches is just disgraceful.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

Follow the Science ... How it started How it's going

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

We have massive data on BA.5 hospitalisation/death rates, preprints with huge samples sizes coming out left, right and centre, all showing no increase in virulence over BA.1/BA.2. Yet, half the scientific community and most the media got stuck on a few 🐹🐹🐹 that lost weight ...

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I wrote the tweet below in April 2020. It didn't go down well at the time, and that's an understatement. I've been wondering what reception it may get a year later.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I believe that most of the world (including most of Europe and the Americas) is entering the final phase of the pandemic. There will be outbreaks over the coming months/years but I don't anticipate Covid-19 waves comparable to those we've experienced over the last 18 months. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

1 year

Few people realise how lucrative it is to be an antivax grifter. @alexberenson a middling player in the field makes an estimated ~$108,000/month from his Substack alone, roughly 10X what I make as a a very senior infectious disease epidemiologist. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

The covid-19 pandemic is an extremely challenging problem and there are still many unknowns. There is no simple fix, and poorly thought-out interventions could make the situation even worse, massively so. (10/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Rich countries in the Northern hemisphere are likely at peak vaccine-immunisation. We might get better drugs, but more effective vaccines are unlikely in the short term. It's spring and we're facing a relatively 'mild' variant. Either we resume 'normal' now, or we don't, ever.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

A variant a day keeps the doomers in play.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

The lack of a resurgence in #COVID19 cases following the easing of lockdowns in several countries is intriguing. I'll take Switzerland as an example. The lockdown ended on May 11 (schools/restaurants opened). Yet this did not translate in any increase in new cases so far. (1/6)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

>1M mostly healthy people are killed on the world’s roads each year. There’s no call for 'zero risk', and road safety measures aim to minimise harm while allowing for the seamless flow of people/goods. Pre- #COVID19 , epidemiology felt similarly pragmatic and non-ideological to me.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Large study from France on increased risk of myocarditis / pericarditis after Covid vaccination. Risk was highest during the first week after inoculation, for the 2nd dose, and for the Moderna (mRNA-1273) vaccine relative to the Pfizer (BNT162b2) one. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

It gives me no joy to announce the inevitability of SARS-CoV-2 becoming endemic, and in an ideal world I wished we could have avoided yet another respiratory virus circulating in the community (there are already ~200 including 4 HCoVs), but the world is just not always ideal. 4/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

There have been claims that #COVID19 has acquired mutations leading to more transmissible strains. We formally tested whether this was the case using 15,000 #SARSCoV2 genomes from all over the world: ... and the answer is no, not at all! (1/5)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Pandemic restriction measures that do not have the support of a clear majority of the population are ineffective at best and harmful at worst. There I said it.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

An excellent read. It gives a good feel for what will likely be the major societal conflict ahead of us. At the risk of being blunt, #ZeroCovid is not compatible with the individual rights and freedoms that characterise postwar democracies.

Inside the Zero Covid campaign

The urge to eliminate the virus is understandable — but at what cost?

unherd.com

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

Seasonality is difficult to predict without time-series. Comparison between regions for the covid-19 pandemic suggests some seasonality, but likely less than for influenza. This would be roughly in line with other Coronaviridae (common cold and MERS). (6/12)

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

The omicron variant could be less, as much, or more transmissible and/or virulent than prior SARSCoV2 lineages in circulation. Only real data will tell, and any prediction about omicron's virulence remains largely futile at this stage. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

In a functioning democracy: - Scientists provide evidence-based advice. - Journalists convey evidence to the public. - Elected politicians take all decisions on behalf of, and to the benefit, of the population. Any deviation from that model is deeply unhelpful.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

I read three papers on COVID19 published in top scientific journals today, and all three left me ... 🙄 I doubt any of those would have been published had they dealt with another topic. This is not healthy long-term; such low standards will undermine science as an institution.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

I feel a bit sorry for T-cells at times. They've been accused of being Republicans, libertarians, useless or even harmful. This strikes me as a bit unfair. They are largely apolitical, try to do their best, work really hard and keep us alive day in, day out ... 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I encourage everyone to get vaccinated, but also to try to be kind to those who make a different choice. Getting vaccinated for covid primarily protects you, and only very marginally others in society. Non-vaccinated people don't tend to be a direct threat to vaccinated you. 8/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

@paulkrugman Mask mandates have been lifted in most of Europe weeks ago. The majority doesn't wear masks anymore, others still choose to do so. Everyone seems to be going on well. I'm not aware of a single incident, even minor.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

The most blatant covid mis/dis-information I came across today was pushed by senior journalists and scientists, including government advisors. I appreciate we're all tense and many of us are scared, but this is not healthy for society and science. I invite everyone to calm down.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

You had one job, which was to convince anyone ≥60, or otherwise vulnerable, to get their three doses of covid vaccines, with a fourth for anyone severely immunocompromised. Instead, you fought for masking toddlers and other performative nonsense. Give me a break.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

What a bizarre claim ... This is factually and demonstrably incorrect.

Dr. Tom Frieden

@DrTomFrieden

3 years

Covid is evolving in weeks and months the way flu evolves in years. Ominous.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

This 'OMG the Pfizer CEO admits that Covid vaccines don't reduce transmission' furore is tiresome and unhelpful. Covid vaccines were not trialled for their effectiveness in reducing infection / transmission and neither the Pfizer or Moderna CEO promised they would at the time. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

This was possibly one of my least subtle twitter threads ever. Though I stand by it. Schools should never, ever have been closed long-term anywhere in the world. That's a hill I'm prepared to die on.

Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I'm prepared to engage with any rational argument either for stricter or more relaxed societal shut-downs to mitigate the effects of #COVID19 . Though, there is one element in this discussion which is completely beyond me: school closures. 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

Despite stiff competition, this wins the prize for today's most stupid covid article in the UK press. Besides the warning that a 'new variant' will kill one in three, it also cites an 'unnamed' SAGE advisor advocating for the culling of cats. Sigh ...

Next Covid variant 'could kill one in three people'

Research presented to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) today warned a future strain could be as deadly as MERS - which kill 35 per cent of infected people - could be on the way.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

Of all the puzzling takes on covid twitter, the "the kids will be alright, there are resilient" genre, generally coming from well-off professionals who for the most likely benefited from a comfortable and mollycoddled upbringing themselves, this is the one that upsets me most.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

At the risk of annoying many people, I'll go out on a limb by suggesting that the relaxation of the remaining COVID19 measures on the UK on July 19th might only have a marginal effect on the dynamic of the epidemic.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

I wonder at times why so many in society seem to believe that if we run enough tests, we would automatically stop the transmission of a highly infectious pathogen with a short incubation period.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

I didn't expect such a strongly worded piece in Science (AAAS). “It’s a textbook example of how natural immunity is really better than vaccination,” says Charlotte Thålin, a physician and immunology researcher. 😬

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

SARSCoV2 is a nasty bug, but fundamentally it does nothing that other respiratory viruses don't do. The reason it is so nasty is that it's still novel. We don't yet have the population immunisation levels we have against the other ~200 endemic respiratory viruses in circulation.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

New study following 12,541 healthcare workers for #COVID19 re-infection over 31 weeks published in NEJM. Natural immunisation held up well over the 6 months of the study, with only two cases of asymptomatic reinfections observed.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Some clever - and sophisticated - analyses indicating that the Omicron wave may be significantly milder than all previous ones, also in the UK (i.e. London). For the first time during the pandemic, there is a clear 'decorrelation' between case numbers and hospital admissions.

Nic Freeman

@nicfreeman1209

2 years

Here's some analysis of the +ve test -> hospital admissions link for *London*. Green: true hospital admissions Blue: predicted hospital admissions, as a convolution of +ve tests, fitted to Nov-20 to March-21

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

1 year

Mask mandates won't come back. There's no support for them in the population. Public health professionals calling for their return through force, stealth or manipulation, are wasting their time. All they achieve is to squander public trust in scientific and medical authorities.

Antoine FLAHAULT

@FLAHAULT

1 year

“Until we have a whole-of-society approach that recognizes that COVID is airborne, mask mandates offer us the best immediate opportunity to preserve our health-care syst, mitigate death and disability, support the economy, safely maintain social contacts.”

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Let's go for a final push to try to convince as many as possible to get vaccinated / boosted. And by the spring, we shall burn the masks, dismantle the perspex screens, bin the tests, shred the passes, and celebrate life. 2/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

This article is irresponsible nonsense. The number of inaccuracies and errors are staggering, and the language utterly inadequate. The entire narrative is in variance with all the evidence available in the public domain at this stage. 1/

Los Angeles Times

@latimes

3 years

⚡️ “California’s coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous”

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

I find it intriguing that state-mandated public health measures are now widely considered as left-wing, whereas bottom-up measures appealing to a sense of community responsibility are often deemed right-wing. This strikes me as a fairly radical shift from pre-pandemic thinking.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

The BA.6 variant is the ultimate beast. It's R0 is ~17.2475685943. It carries a mutation in the ORF6 gene. My friend Amy had a headache yesterday, which means that BA.6 causes fulminant encephalopathy with marked brain edema and bilateral thalamic lesions. Be afraid, very afraid.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

Pandemics suck. They kill, maim and destroy the fabric of society. In our response, we have to consider everyone, the frail and the strong, the meek and the bold, the young and the old. Health matters, but so does education and the economy, and the prospect of a joyful future.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Factoid of the day Reported COVID-19 deaths globally are lower now than they have ever been in the last 365 days. The number is still far too high and periodically going up and down, but with damped peaks, and the overall trend over the last year goes in the right direction.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

1 year

@vlal42 A face mask seems to be considered by some as an amulet, a sign of allegiance to an ideological movement and a reminder of a time of crisis. When the masks go, society rejects its pandemic fears and resumes normal life, which some may still find difficult to accept.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

4 years

Interesting article by Mark Woolhouse who is a highly qualified and experienced 'Infectious Disease Epidemiologist'.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

Pandemics end, as did the 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009 flu pandemics, and others you may never have heard of. There's nothing sinister about preparing for their ending. Revelling in the prospect that there will be no joyful post-pandemic future ahead of us may be more troubling ...

Hisham Ziauddeen

@HZiauddeen

2 years

This thread by @BallouxFrancois troubles me for several reasons, first and foremost because he is now advising our health secretary Sajid Javid. The central message of his 🧵is that COVID is inevitable, we're all going to get it, let's just get on with life. 1/23

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

Those I consider to be real 'experts' don't tend to: - claim to be experts - rely on credentials (real or fake) - push conspiracies - monetise their views - politicise everything - never express doubt - try to instil fear - be always predictable - take themselves too seriously

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

In case, anyone came across tweets by @DrEricDing or other 'variant fear mongers' who possibly disappointed by Omicron, are announcing the new variant from hell (B.1.640.2), please relax for now ... 1/

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

2 years

I had Covid twice. First time it was Alpha, pre-vaccine, this was really quite nasty. Second time, it was Omicron, post-vaccine, I hardly noticed. I'm not afraid of the next time I'll get infected by SARSCoV2. Though, I appreciate I'm lucky enough to be healthy and fairly young.

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Prof Francois Balloux

@BallouxFrancois

3 years

That's hilarious and a bit Meta ... 😬 The Cochrane Library is the ultimate reference collection of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in medical research, the 'sacred text' of what's meant to be true in medicine ... and it just got banned from instagram for disinformation.

Cochrane

@cochranecollab

3 years

🤔 Um, @instagram you got this one wrong! @cochranecollab and @CochraneLibrary continue to be there for those looking to use high-quality information to make #health decisions. Learn more: And search our evidence: #infodemic

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