Tag Archives: epidemiology
The constructionist hypothesis and expertise during the pandemic
Now that COVID-19 cases are rising again in the country, the trash talk against journalists has been rising in tandem. The Indian government was unprepared and hapless last year, and it is this year as well, if only in different … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Scicomm
Tagged biochemistry, complexity, COVID-19 pandemic, disease transmission models, epidemiological modelling, epidemiology, expertise, immune escape, more is different, novel coronavirus, novel coronavirus variants, Philip Warren Anderson, scale, virology
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Pandemic: A world-building exercise
First, there was light news of a vaccine against COVID-19 nearing the end of its phase 3 clinical trials with very promising results, accompanied with breezy speculations (often tied to the stock prices of a certain drug-maker) about how it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
Tagged anti-vaxxer, clinical trials, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Donald Trump, epidemiological modelling, epidemiology, healthcare privatisation, migrant workers, phase 3 clinical trials, Politically Math, private healthcare
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The number of deaths averted
What are epidemiological models for? You can use models to inform policy and other decision-making. But you can’t use them to manufacture a number that you can advertise in order to draw praise. That’s what the government’s excuse appears to … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged cherry-picking, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, epidemiological modelling, epidemiology, India coronavirus lockdown, novel coronavirus, novel coronavirus pandemic, self-fulfilling prophecy
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The virus and the government
In December 2014, public health researchers and activists gathered at a public forum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to discuss how our perception of diseases and their causative pathogens influences our ideas of what we can and can’t do to fight them. … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Scicomm
Tagged COVID-19, epidemiology, Evelynn Hammonds, free press, health journalism, right wing media, science communication, virology
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The Wolfram singularity
I got to this article about Stephen Wolfram’s most recent attempt to “revolutionise” fundamental physics quite late, and sorry for it because I had no idea Wolfram was the kind of guy who could be a windbag. I haven’t ever … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged ambulance chasing, COVID-19, epidemiological modelling, epidemiology, infectious disease modelling, Katie Mack, lone genius myth, Reddit, Ronojoy Adhikari, Stephen Wolfram
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On India’s path to community transmission
There’s a virus out there among many, many viruses that’s caught the world’s attention. This virus came into existence somewhere else, it doesn’t matter where, and developed a mutation at some point that allowed it to do what it needs … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Bernoulli distribution, binomial distribution, community transmission, coronavirus, COVID-19, demonetisation, epidemiology, healthcare expenditure, Homo sapiens, Indian Council of Medical Research, infectious diseases, local transmission, novel coronavirus, pandemic, World Health Organization
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‘When you change something in a virus, you lose something else’
The contents of this blog post should have come out earlier (in a different form) but better late than never, eh? The Ebola outbreak has been more threatening than ever of going out of control (even as whether we’re really in control … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged disease outbreaks, Ebola virus, epidemiology, H1N1, H5N1, Michael Osterholm, reproductive index, Vincent Racaniello
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