Saurabh Asthana

computational biologist, anarcho-communist, parent

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@BenjaminPDixon @EricRiedmann When you discuss the thing I deal with every day, you are speaking to me and it makes me want to speak up.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@EricRiedmann @BenjaminPDixon For every scientist whose name will be on some paper earning accolades for curing this, there will also be an army of admins, techs, and other staff whose indispensable work will go unacknowledged.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@stevenbodzin If you are able, add a column for the same stat this time last year.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@JGhetto16 @HypocriteLefty @ggreenwald I think the problem is you perceive the public as a bunch of docile cows to be herded by expert scientific managers, whereas I cannot imagine trying to organize a successful response with a smooth-brained public that can only do what it is told.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@zeynep @nk_prof @TANK926 @cpm5280 @waltshaub @DrMattMcCarthy The grocery workers are already in the store, working every day being exposed to every pathogen floating around in their local community; this avoids that mess. There is no lockdown, just online orders and pickup instead of shopping with a cart.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@zeynep @nk_prof @TANK926 @cpm5280 @waltshaub @DrMattMcCarthy People don't have to shop. They could place orders; the grocery workers, instead of herding people around the store and checking them out as usual, instead fill out the order in a clean and sanitary manner. The customer is told; bags are placed at a drop-off point for pickup.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@AveryPereira @civilityovergop

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@TANK926 @zeynep @cpm5280 @waltshaub @DrMattMcCarthy I think demanding explanations and evidence is our duty as members of the public. Experts should be interrogated, their opinions understood and their underlying evidence rigorously examined. Then, we should reach our own conclusions and act accordingly.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

How is America being defeated by our inability to get enough masks to healthcare workers? I have been a harsh critic of this system for my entire adult life, and even I never expected it to fail this badly.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@TANK926 @zeynep @cpm5280 @waltshaub @DrMattMcCarthy Above all else we should be manufacturing enough masks that this stupid debate does not have to happen. This is the most technologically capable country in history. There is no paper shortage. Let's just do it and be done. So my real question is, what will that take?

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@ResonantPulse I unfollowed last week. While Gabbard was still in play there was some reason to follow. Now, no longer. Just say nay.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@tuuliel @mbeisen I think what you mean is "PIs who suddenly see the opportunity to grab some cash by applying their existing method to COVID, no matter how irrelevant"

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@ahollander314 @ggreenwald Cancer patients, for example, are severely immunocompromised by therapy. They are always susceptible to disease and we'd expect to see them dying more often in a pandemic. The fact that this is what is happening with COVID isn't therefore surprising or special.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@ahollander314 @ggreenwald I've thought about this - what is the counterfactual mean survival time for people who died of COVID-19, had they not got the disease? But in the end it isn't that interesting, because it will ALWAYS be the most vulnerable people dying of disease, any disease.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@g_mirabelli @Taniel Except the "disaster relief" in this case was weapons to fuel a war with Russia, so rather the opposite of "disaster relief".

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@shailjapatel They need to defend private property against even the hint of expropriation; same reason we can't give people cash without strings attached: don't let the proles catch a whiff of socialism.

[Saurabh Asthana @astazangasta]

@guacamayan @zeynep Also your study compared two kinds of masks used by nurses, not mask vs no mask used by the public.