john ashkenas

Biologist-turned-writer with a soft spot for mandolins, reptiles, fungi, and a well-turned phrase. Also jokes.

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@pandabearmom @Mikeggibbs No? I saw more than a handful. I was wearing an N95 to bike around and do errands. Lots of others were too.

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@WoodGary2400 @AdamKinzinger Do they have irony where you’re from, Gary?

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@EricTopol Frustrating that they don’t test conditions with an expected J-or U-shaped risk curve, eg deep vein thrombosis or peripheral artery disease. The slight risk decrease in Isch HD might hint at a genuine thromboprotective effect, as people always used to say of alcohol and MACE risk

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@BlisterPearl @legittreehugger I call them DUI hires

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@Marc_Veld Not the Washington Post, unless I’m missing something. This is credited to the New York Post. A rag if there ever was one. The WP would be problematic enough, especially in Feb 2026.

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@cadlam @JustFac36465951 Any idea what the time frame is for getting those units back on line— weeks? months?
(For Pickering A, I guess never).

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@cadlam I’d like to know ho to find those numbers & if they’re continuously updated. Also: How did the contribution of gas reach 35%, when it was ~4-5% (ie, we were almost decarbonized) pre-Ford? Increased total capacity? Demolition of wind turbines? Nukes going offline? Something else?

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@kevyngbash @jkbjournalist Not before 47 was elected. But since then, yes, I’ve been expecting it.

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@Marc_Veld Looks like a subtle effect, since there are no significant group differences in Ab induction. Fascinating, though. I’d love to know if there’s a parallel nocebo (harm-inducing) effect of negative vax expectations. Seems like it, in my (anecdotal) experience.

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@SUlam00731161 @1goodtern SARS1 might be another. What other sarbecoviruses are you thinking of? Any refs?

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@1goodtern Here’s a link to the article: https://t.co/bENZxYxKQs

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@1goodtern That’s a good idea.

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@Brekstar4 @1goodtern @fitterhappierAJ 4/But my main point is back to lived experience. Personally, I guess short covid is common, but recognizing I could be way off, surely the incidence isn’t 0. Saying it’s 0, to convince people to take C19 seriously, will likely backfire, esp if their history is anything like mine.

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@Brekstar4 @1goodtern @fitterhappierAJ 3/ re discovery of diabetes / other chronic conditions after covid, there’s obviously a risk of incidental discovery. Are you going to accept every such report as a new manifestation of LC? You’d need good statistics and a consistent literature to show causation.

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@Brekstar4 @1goodtern @fitterhappierAJ 2/ Focusing on the lung, many mild cases apparently have no lower RT involvement… do you really want to claim that 100% of those cases increase risk of chronic resp dysfunction? (I’d be surprised if any do)

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@Brekstar4 @1goodtern @fitterhappierAJ Not disputing the fact of LC, nor evidence for cumulative risk. I was responding to the idea that there’s no short covid. How could you ever verify such claim? Even with inexorably progressive diseases (HIV) there are populations (CCR5 carriers) where infection is self limiting.

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@Brekstar4 @1goodtern @fitterhappierAJ Sure. Ya can’t prove a negative & anyone could have subclinical effects. But I know about as many people with clinical long sequellae as I do people who say they never got it, ie, a handful. Everyone else had it, had symptoms for 1 day (me!) to 6 weeks, & mostly seem ok otherwise

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@1goodtern I take your point and that of @fitterhappierAJ but that’s not my lived experience. My covid (shortly postvax) was exceedingly short/ paucisymptomatic. Can’t show longitudinal data on my T or NK cell populations, but I have no new chronic & no worse response to infectious disease

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@Matt_Pinner Dorothy and Rose. I had a step-grandmother
called Yolanda.

Vintage enough?

[john ashkenas @AshkenasJohn]

@Maga_Trigger Of course. Phony as a false leg.