Former news reporter and Cavite Congressman Gilbert Remulla has indirectly criticized Atom Araullo over his recent twitter thread.
Remulla has joined the latest twitter debate between journalist Atom Araullo and Dr. Edsel Salvana wherein Remulla clearly sided with the doctor.
In a tweet Sunday, March 29, Remulla said when it comes to the debate between a medical expert and a journalist he would always side with a medical expert 100%.
“Between a medical expert and a journalist, I’d trust the medical expert 100 percent of the time”
Between a medical expert and a journalist, i’d trust the medical expert 100 percent of the time
— Gilbert C. Remulla (@GilbertCRemulla) March 29, 2020
Over the weekend, Atom was in a verbal tussle with IATF consultant and epidemiology specialist Dr. Edsel Salvana.
Atom slammed Salvana’s misleading and obfuscating tweet regarding the real number of the country’s COVID-19 tests conducted and people tested.
Atom questioned the discrepancy between the numbers being reported by the DOH against Dr. Salvana’s claims.
Then sir, I’m sorry to say but your tweets are misleading at best, and malicious at worst. I was NOT referring to total number of tests but individuals tested! This is what the DOH tracks anyway. So hindi pala inaccurate yung data. https://t.co/J1xQZDpzxx pic.twitter.com/eWEPeCRJ4t
— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) March 27, 2020
According to Atom as based on the DOH numbers, we are only testing 200 patients a day for a current total of 2,147 compared to Vietnam’s 30,548, Thailand 10,343, Malaysia 21,855, Singapore 39,000 considering these are countries that have smaller populations than the Philippines.
Salvana disagreed with Atom saying the country has already tested 11,466 tests with translates to 1,000 tests per day.
Atom, the 2147 tests is inaccurate. Its not as simple as adding the COVID tracker numbers. Positive patients get many repeat tests until they turn negative. The actual tests performed is 11,466. Capacity now at more than 1000 test/day. DOH will update. https://t.co/avBoas8HrG
— Dr. Edsel Salvana (@EdselSalvana) March 27, 2020
Their twitter thread dragged on as Atom argued that his comparison is correct as other countries are reporting tested individuals and not the number of tests done as what Salvana is claiming.
No, individuals tested. See link for vietnam and screengrab for Malaysia. H/T @dingclancyhttps://t.co/xebLd7cT1t pic.twitter.com/rxvTTr2wSQ
— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) March 27, 2020
Hindi rin sir. Based on news reports, only 1% of tests in Singapore come back positive. Siyempre individuals po yun, it doesn’t make sense otherwise. That was on March 18, when they had 313 confirmed cases. That means they had tested approximately 31300 individuals back then.
— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) March 27, 2020
The thread ended with the two still agreeing to disagree with their analysis.
Not picking a fight, doc. Never was 🙂 Just presenting evidence that the comparison between countries is correct. Data is data, this is really not a matter of opinion. I think the evidence supports the interpretation that “tests” in this case refers to individuals.
— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) March 29, 2020
That’s ok. Please know that I recognize your expertise and was making my point with respect. Ingat, doc.
— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) March 29, 2020
So much polarization. I'm at fault as well. Let's please move on from this. I don't think it helps. I already reached out to @atomaraullo and we agreed to disagree. We both agree that the enemy is the virus. Not fellow Filipinos. We need to help each other out. Thank you.
— Dr. Edsel Salvana (@EdselSalvana) March 28, 2020