Image credit: iStock photo How many times have you met someone and then immediately forgotten their name? What about meeting someone, forgetting their name, but then you see them frequently enough that it becomes too awkward to ask them again for their name? Most of us are guilty to each of these. Sometimes I…
Category: Let’s Talk Politics
How Science Communication (SciComm) Remains Apolitical
Image: Patrick presenting at the USUHS Postdoctoral Research Symposium May 2019 – Bethesda, MD. Dr. Tony Fauci, director of the NIAID, recently gave an interview to Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on his America Dissected Podcast. Dr. Sayed asked Dr. Fauci how he has been able to maintain his credibility through 6 Presidential administrations and communicate effectively…
Population density, not Political Party, is a better indicator for COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Image credit: NIAID at Bloomberg With all 50 states beginning some type of reopening after Stay-at-home orders and business closures, I wanted to assess the total number of COVID-19 cases/deaths comparing population density and Governor political affiliation in a state by state basis (I previously wrote a post on how States responded to COVID-19 based…
Building Trust between Public Health Experts and the Public.
Image Source: Boston Globe, via AFP Getty Images COVID-19 has upended the typical “look” of a scientist. Gone are the days of enjoying an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy every week in middle school or taking a virtual trip with Ms. Frizzle on The Magic School bus. Nowadays, our mainstream scientists are Drs….
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF) Semi-Finalist Policy Memo Exercise
Back in October, I submitted my application to become an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF). AAAS is the largest science society in the world with the objective to advance effective science policies for the betterment of mankind. Last week, I was privileged to interview as a…
Comparing COVID-19 Testing Capacities Among the 50 States
Basically, positive tests for COVID-19 should beget more testing! Image Credit: © Joe Raedle/Getty Images at Live Science Previously we learned that the United States has conducted the most COVID-19 tests than any other country. But in reality, we haven’t performed nearly as many when you calculate the total tests performed against how many people…
Differences in social distancing measures and their impact on the COVID-19 curve
Image Credit: Toby Morris @xtotl — featured on The Spinoff Yesterday, the U.S. experienced our largest daily COVID-19 death toll with over 800 deaths. President Trump rightly implemented another 30 days of social distancing in the face of the grim reality of the virus. Further, the White House Task Force now says we may have…
Why does it take so long to make a vaccine for COVID-19?
Image Credit: Ted S. Warren, AP With all the (mis)information out there, vaccines are definitely one of the most widely misattributed subjects. Regarding the current COVID-19 pandemic, why can’t we just make a drug or compound that cures or vaccinates anyone from infection? Vaccine varieties The problem isn’t making a new drug or compound to…
Getting 4 facts straight about COVID-19.
Let’s go through some misinformation related to COVID-19. 1) COVID-19 is the disease caused by the novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2. It is closely related (but unique) to the virus that caused the SARS outbreak in 2002. 2) Please, please, stop calling it a “foreign virus,” “Chinese virus,” “Wuhan virus,” etc. It is SARS-CoV-2. It is the novel coronavirus….
Please, it’s time to start taking COVID-19 seriously
Image Credit: CDC – Reuters In the past 24 hours, numerous countries have all experienced significant increases in diagnosed COVID-19 cases. Italy: ~3500 new cases Spain: ~2000 new cases Germany: ~900 new cases United States: ~1000 new cases (nearly 50% increase) Now, more than ever, we must be responsible and practice social distancing to minimize…