Absurd 'outlook' on a weird study: Further fact check on explanations on so-called #COVID-19 study

-Amol Pawar 

 

It's been a few days since (24th March) CDDEP (The Center For Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy) published its report predicting the severe situation of COVID-19 in India. In the previous article (read it here) we exposed the report. Earlier John Hopkins University (JHU) and Princeton University (PU) have distanced themselves from it.

 

 

Now in a desperate wake to save the report and its credibility “Ramanan Laxminarayan” seems to have persuaded JHU and PU to affiliate themselves with the report but this desperate move has created a “Comedy of Errors''.

 

 

On 24th March 2020, Ramanan published its COVID-19 report using JHU logo. The instant reaction of JHU was this (27 March)

But on 28 March JHU somersaulted and tweeted this from its International Health handle

What was this sudden realisation of JHU which made it change its mind to get affiliated to the report and Ramanan?

 

They always say,” If someone does something in a half-hearted way, they do it without any real effort, interest, or enthusiasm,” This is what exactly happened when Ramanan coaxed JHU. JHU doesn't seem to have accepted this affiliation wholeheartedly.

 

P1. The tweet says this report is co-authored by faculties from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH)

 

P2. This report uses strong scientific modelling

 

P3. This model uses “available data and based on the clear assumption”

 

P4. Its findings do not reflect John Hopkins University's views.

 

WOW...This seems to be a tweet full of absurdity. If the report is co-authored by faculties of JHBSPH (P1) and it does not reflect views (P4) of John Hopkins University (JHU) why is that report carrying the logo of JHU? Why not the logo of JHBSPH. Both organisations have different logos. We can verify that from https://www.jhsph.edu/ and https://www.jhu.edu/

 

 

 

 

Next thing is where the tweet claims that the report uses strong scientific modelling (P2). This model identified as IndiaSIM is Agent-Based Model (ABM). It was developed (2016) by a lecturer luckily whose guide is none other than Ramanan Laxminarayan (is it a coincidence?). Now the question is does the scientific community approve of this model? What about JHU? Does JHU approve and endorse this as a scientific model? Or this is something in developmental and yet to be matured? Is this model accepted and used widely for research? For all the above questions the answer is a big “NO”.

 

Furthermore, tweet claims this model uses "available data and based on assumptions"(P3). This is very unfortunate that Ramanan Laxminarayan comes in national media and wants us to trust his report which is based on what? "available data and assumption". This "available data" does not come from previous studies of India, It comes from China and Italy.

 

This is something more like experimental and we can surely doubt its credibility.

 

 

As told earlier Princeton University (PU) has also denied any authenticity of the report and claimed that they did not authorize the use of logo and research is under peer review. Here are their tweets (28 March)

 

On the same day, PU came with lame excuse claiming that logo was incorrect and needed to be corrected

But PU didn't answer the crucial question, does it endorse the opinion expressed in research as the report is being published using the logo of PU. Since when the research which is under examination is published using the very logo of university? Instead of PU, CDDEP came ahead replied saying research does not reflect views of JHU, PU or CDDEP itself

Summing-up: Considering all facts and tweets full of contradiction, we can conclude that we can not trust this report. Now the question remains for our media houses. While rushing for “Happening News” the entirety of media intelligence seems to have forgotten to verify the authenticity.

 

"Outlook India" seems to have surpassed all, when the entire media after denial from JHU and PU has deleted stories; how come outlook comes up with the same story justifying it, again without verifying it. Publishing news items, articles without validating them? Like doctors, journalists do have some code of conduct i.e. of ethics, morality.

 

When the report and the person whose credibility is under suspicion they shouldn't be part of national news and debate. It is very unfortunate to see a person who has been convicted for theft of Intellectual property rights is coming on national news and claiming a sombre situation in India because of COVID-19.

 

We should understand why this report needs logos of JHU and PU? Cause it lacks authenticity and credibility? If you remove those logos from the report entire study will be put to the test by media houses. Ramanan Laxminarayan knows this very well. But THREE THINGS YOU CANT HIDE; THE SUN, THE MOON, THE TRUTH...!

 

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IF YOU HAVE MISSED THE THE FIRST PART OF THIS ARTICLE YOU CAN READ IT HERE ⤵️