Sarah ZhangVerified account

@sarahzhang

staff writer, eukaryote. I cover science. Say hi at szhang@theatlantic.com

NYC
theatlantic.com/author/sarah-z…
Joined February 2008
142 Photos and videos Photos and videos

Tweets

You blocked @sarahzhang

Are you sure you want to view these Tweets? Viewing Tweets won't unblock @sarahzhang

  1. Retweeted
    15 hours ago

    A sketch to explain how a new variant may appear milder even with no change in underlying virulence. This can occur because, when calculating the fraction of cases that are severe, the denominator now includes many re-infections that had previously been averted. A thread. 1/8

    127 replies 1,801 retweets 5,440 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  2. 13 hours ago

    And on what Omicron means for the vaccinated. Sorry but this variant is *everybody's* problem now

    4 replies 19 retweets 75 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  3. Retweeted
    Dec 8

    I'm sorry to say I'm worried about Omicron. A lot we still don't know, but this much is becoming clear: Cases are rising very, very fast in places with high immunity to COVID 1/

    32 replies 265 retweets 793 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  4. 16 hours ago

    Right now, Omicron is spreading as fast in places with *high immunity* as the original virus did in places with *no immunity* in early 2020. This is bad news, even if most cases are mild. I wrote about why here:

    2 replies 3 retweets 18 likes
    Undo
  5. 17 hours ago

    And a lot more details on neutralizing antibody data and boosters for Omicron, from who is writing at superhuman speed

    2 replies 9 retweets 72 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  6. Dec 8

    Full story. As I said, plenty of uncertainty still, but we've seen enough to take Omicron seriously 5/5

    13 replies 15 retweets 116 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  7. Dec 8

    I'm not personally worried about getting very sick with COVID—or that any vaccinated loved ones would. These are pretty rare events. But rare events across many, many cases can still add up to a lot hospitalizations and deaths, and we don't want hospitals overwhelmed again 4/

    6 replies 12 retweets 149 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  8. Dec 8

    For context, I've been living a pretty normal life these last few months. I go to movies. I eat inside restaurants. I've hopped on a bunch of planes and traveled internationally. But I do think Omicron should prompt us to rethink that might be necessary soon. 3/

    5 replies 17 retweets 132 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  9. Dec 8

    Even if most cases are mild—though, as I explain in the piece, Omicron may not end up as mild as it currently looks—we have a simple math problem on our hands. A tiny % of a huge # is still a big #. With Omicron, we really could get to a huge # of cases. More than Delta 2/

    5 replies 28 retweets 174 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  10. Dec 8

    I'm sorry to say I'm worried about Omicron. A lot we still don't know, but this much is becoming clear: Cases are rising very, very fast in places with high immunity to COVID 1/

    32 replies 265 retweets 793 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  11. Dec 7

    regular ass colds, still bad, man

    5 replies 25 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  12. Dec 7

    I caught a normal cold more than two weeks ago and my teeth still hurt every time I shake my head because of lingering sinusitis

    4 replies 19 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  13. Dec 6

    In any case, scientists will only know for sure that COVID has reached "endemicity" in retrospect, when we see the virus behaving the same year after year. Instead of asking "When will we reach endemicity?," we should ask, "How do we live now based on how things are today?"

    3 replies 16 retweets 63 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  14. Dec 6

    I think we keep looking to "endemicity" like we did before to "herd immunity"—a supposedly scientific threshold to tell us when we can stop caring about COVID. But that's not up to science! We as a society decide how much we keep caring about COVID

    5 replies 13 retweets 67 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  15. Dec 6

    COVID is not endemic yet, and it might not be for a while. The key question is: How do we manage the transition to endemicity?

    8 replies 43 retweets 104 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  16. Dec 2

    I have developed a brain disease where I can only write late at night help

    5 replies 1 retweet 40 likes
    Undo
  17. Retweeted
    Nov 18

    In October 2019, a boxer named Charles Conwell unintentionally killed his opponent, Patrick Day, with a 10th-round knockout. I’ve spent the past two years reporting on the aftermath. ›››

    6 replies 41 retweets 120 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  18. Nov 18

    "It strikes me that wrinkles on women are not only stigmatized because they make them seem old, but because they make them look angry, sad, surprised, distressed — they make them look alive"

    2 replies 2 retweets 28 likes
    Undo
  19. Nov 18

    Lastly, we are just not very good at predicting when a local outbreak will happen. We know which areas are at risk—where there is dry wood—but we don't know exactly when the lightning will strike

    4 replies 11 retweets 46 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  20. Nov 18

    Because unprotected people tend to cluster geographically and because hospitals are so backlogged & understaffed after a year-plus of pandemic emergency, it doesn't take very many sick people in a region to overwhelm hospitals

    2 replies 13 retweets 42 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo

@sarahzhang hasn't Tweeted yet.

Loading seems to be taking a while.

Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.

    You may also like

    ·