Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty

Infectious disease scientist passionate about science policy, outreach, and communication. Also cats, books, and food.

[Dr. Angela Rasmussen @angie_rasmussen]

Let’s be clear:

Marburg virus did not emerge due to a “lab leak.”

This “fun fact” is neither fun nor factual with regard to emerging viruses.

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@antsknee @NASA Probably the SpaceX launch. Looks cool though! https://t.co/TflmY1vaoy

[Capital Weather @capitalweather]

What everyone was seeing tonight was the SpaceX launch!!!

[Dr. Theresa Chapple has moved to bluesky @Theresa_Chapple]

"We don't have to count raindrops to know it's raining"

A thread on why this should never be a premise we base public health policy on.

Also... hating every moment in our new normal that makes a thread like this necessary.

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@GWLiechti @USUhealthsci It's great to see that this is still going! Best of luck to the competitors.

[Dr Ellie Murray, ScD @EpiEllie]

There was a truly misguided and factually incorrect Wall Street Journal article yesterday claiming we should *accelerate* the spread of omicron.

The authors fundamentally misunderstand the evolution of infectious diseases in a way I think many talking heads share.

A 🧵

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

I too would love it if the Omicron variant turned out to cause less severe disease, but I'm not convinced yet. This thread makes a very important point - we need to be cautious about making those claims.

[Bill Hanage @BillHanage.bsky.social @BillHanage]

Lots of chatter about how early data show #Omicron is "less dangerous". But it is important to correct for the lag between infection and hospitalization when comparing the severity of variants with very different properties when it comes to transmission, here’s why 1/n

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@eatsleepsci @USOPM Congrats Rama!! That's awesome 😁

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@britneyhardy10 I just recently realized the same thing! I don't know why it was so firmly in my head that it was a virus that only young children get. Should we blame it on UMD or USU? 😛

Hope you feel better soon!!

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@superchiasmatic Congratulations Katherine!! You look gorgeous and so happy!

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@eatsleepsci @CaitlinLeeSmith @britneyhardy10 @friendorfomite Saaaame. Maybe first 6 months honestly 😂

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

I was lucky enough to have an incredibly supportive group of grad school classmates and friends, and little things like this made such a difference to my experience. Highly recommend.

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@dna_heligrace I just read The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow and loved it.

It's about suffragist witches, and it fits nicely into all four of your desired categories! Highly recommend.

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@britneyhardy10 I know. :/ I'm not shocked, it's more of dull sort of horror and dread.

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

If someone needed a kidney transplant to survive, even if I were the only person in the world who could provide one, I could not be forced to donate it.

If I were to die in a car accident and that same person still needed my kidney, they still couldn't have it
(1/4)

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

And that's not even touching the complete insanity of the rest of the provisions of that bill. Or the soul-crushing irony of doing this while refusing to take basic precautions against COVID.

If you are not horrified, I don't know what to say. (4/4)

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

To believe that abortion bans are just means believing not just that a fetus deserves the same rights as a living breathing independent human being, but that a pregnant person has less of a right to control what happens to their body than a corpse.
(3/4)

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@Seven18 @PeterHotez @donlemon @DonLemonTonight For example, you can find reports of gunshot wounds and car accidents, which I hope we can all agree have nothing to do with the vaccine. It's just a list of anything that happened to occur within a couple days of getting the vaccine that people felt like reporting.

[Dr. Claire Costenoble-Caherty @Clarity4Science]

@Seven18 @PeterHotez @donlemon @DonLemonTonight The VAERS site is just reports of *anything* that happened after getting a vaccine that can be submitted by *anyone*. It's not verified by the CDC at all: they just provide the information that people give them, and it doesn't mean that the vaccine caused those things.