Rachel Locke

PhD biomedical scientist; Grant writer; viruses, cancer, neuroscience; Fighting scientific misinformation.

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@AbraarKaran @StanfordDeptMed @Stanford_ID @StanfordCIGH One of the most well-written explanations of sarscov2 transmission, and how it has changed over time, that I've seen yet. :-)

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@phealthsean @jbakcoleman and the *Journalists* need to know (be educated about?) which specifics are relevant in which context, and they need to report the specifics.

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@RickCrawf @lasradoN @NEJM @BarouchLab @airisyc @ocpowers5599 It depends on how you interpret the data (the data is fixed; the interpretation is something you choose to make a specific point). Here, the title was making one point, and the tweet was making another.

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@EdAsante77 You go girl! The trans community needs you. Thank you for all you are doing.

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@KingCheesyPoofs @michaelmina_lab Yes, a friend of mine made the same mistake. As per Michael: If you've been vaxed/infected and have symptoms, assume those are starting bc your immune system is sensing the virus fast. Use yr symptoms as Early Warning Signal; assume the virus may Grow and u may become infectious

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@GoldaSchl @michaelmina_lab Yes. Their symptoms show that their immune system is fighting the virus; and the fact that they don't test + means that the immune system is winning (ie immune system is preventing infected cells from becoming virus factories).

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@VGrubsky @Mike_Honey_ I also noticed that the # samples was small (and small compared to prior months). I'll be interested to see the analysis when/if sampling/n value increases.

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@jstonedotorg @jljcolorado @CorsIAQ @JimRosenthal4 @kprather88 @michaelmina_lab I've been wondering something similar: if person A comes down with covid, infects housemates B and C a few days later, (and all continue to share the same apartment) does A stay sick/infected longer?

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@benganboy70 @michelle_monje @BrodinPetter Hey Bengt - I think it was because of the mouse model they used. In the Introduction section of their paper, "To test the effects of mild COVID, we used a mouse model of mild SARS-CoV-2 infection limited to the respiratory system that clears within one week."

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@JeromeAdamsMD It appears your point would have been more clearly made if you had described the discrepancy bet WH and CDC policies.

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@gbosslet Thank you! (from a Hoosier)

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@jrbedford Maybe this helps. From the paper's discussion: "Reductions in disease severity associated with Omicron variant infections were evident among both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients" https://t.co/9bwovqsyPH @LaurieBeacham

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@SgtDDonowitz Just a guess. "building up of immunity"=lots of people have significant immunity so don't get super sick; virus still circulates. "herd immunity"=lots of people have the type of immunity that prevents them from getting or transmitting; virus can't circulate

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@adsquires My experience wearing a mask to lecture/teach (and do yoga) is that https://t.co/Ds9ytFxBJE is pretty darned easy to breath thru and students can understand me. (Airgami's own testing, not that I can judge, indicates their mask is N95 grade.)

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@coff_ee_spoons @michaelmina_lab https://t.co/keOizKEbhu

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@AndrewKofke Great to see your work mentioned :-) The podcast was super engaging, and it did a good job pointing out the many implications of the work. @WHYYThePulse @lsaguirre

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@tumblingkitty some PCR tests look for only 1 gene (usually S)-thus, they give a result for 1 gene
most PCR tests look for 3 genes (S, N, Orf)-thus, they give 3 results, one for each gene. S gene dropout means there was no result for the S gene (b/c S was too mutated)

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@AlanGoldfeder @freeintheforest I take this as a lesson on how hard it is communicate science to a person w/ no science background. (I'm also musing on what a better word than "internally" might be; I don't have one yet.)

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@spicezoi @DavidLKeating @michaelmina_lab addendum: (an ideal scenario, and assuming symptoms)
Positive test=positive
Negative test=submit sample for PCR, but re-test with rapid test later in the day, and each following day until the PRC result returns.

[Rachel Locke @RachelLocke]

@CatchTheBaby @EricTopol @nytimes TY!