Excited to be enrolled in a free @MIT class on coronavirus. Today's lecturer is David Baltimore of MIT and CalTechn. #Follow this thread for live tweets.

Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab is giving a free online lecture through MIT about covid-19. The decline of covid-19 cases in the summer may have misled people into thinking it had gone away. It didn't. The decline may have shown the "seasonality" of virus. web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… pic.twitter.com/09wMTFbR9E

These are your lungs. These are your lungs on covid. Any questions? From @ShivPillai4, who is giving a lecture on covid-19 immunology right now. web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… pic.twitter.com/hpRPjL6lGP

A single coronavirus can make hundreds of copies of itself inside one infected human cell, in just 8-10 hours.

The novel coronavirus makes way fewer mistakes when copying its genome than viruses such as HIV, so it has fewer mutations. Why? Because it has an excellent copy editor. In comparison, HIV mutates constantly b/c it can't fix its mistakes. #copyeditors

If you'd like to read more about Michel Nussenzweig's lecture on immunology on covid19, read back over this Twitter thread! web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… /13 biology.mit.edu/undergraduate/…

Michel Nussenzweig: "In theory, the T-cell is NOT going to be effective in preventing the infection." Antibodies do that. But T-cells can prevent severe disease. You may become reinfected with covid, but hopefully have less serious illness second time. web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… 12/

Coronavirus genome is huge -- 2x-3x larger than most RNA viruses. They approach the theoretical limit to how big an RNA genome can be.

Michel Nussenzweig found a way to sneak Elmo into his lecture on covid-19 immunology. web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… 8/ pic.twitter.com/R7ktHiuGOT

LIVE: Dr. Britt Glausinger of UC-Berkeley is leading a free lecture on the biology of COVID-19 NOW through this MIT course.

LIVE: Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab says widespread antibody testing can be a better way to know what's going on in an outbreak than PCR testing, providing slightly faster answers. web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… pic.twitter.com/mAPUkG55qU

LIVE: Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab compares benefits/limitations of viral tests vs antibody tests. Testing for virus catches people while they're still transmitting, but will miss people. Good for surveillance when testing is frequent. web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… pic.twitter.com/jDZrfzHFbw

LIVE: Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab is doing a pilot study to test blood, looking for antibodies, to reconstruct introduction of virus into U.S. He asks, "Could we have early warning system for viruses like we have for hurricanes?" web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… pic.twitter.com/ZM60HnOmOf

@shivpilla gives us Immunology of COVID-19 for Beginners. The first immune cells to respond, when virus gets in the lung, belong to the innate immune system: neutrophils and macrophages, all-purpose fighters that arrives before antibodies are made.

It's really important to listen to people like Michel Nussenzweig on a regular basis, because it reminds us that most of us really know very little and should listen more, talk less. web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… 9/ pic.twitter.com/7uLaCYURLH

Michel Nussenzweig is talking about covid-19 immunology right now. 1/ web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… pic.twitter.com/FAvsIk9iBe

LIVE: David Baltimore said he was surprised to look at this map and see that the novel coronavirus doesn't seem to be spreading effectively in Africa, with the exception South Africa, a more developed country. web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog… pic.twitter.com/xrJ4OiMukh

Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab: Advantage of antibody testing for surveillance is that antibodies persist in your blood for at least months. So a test for the virus may turn negative once your body clears it; an antibody test would still be positive.