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So this is going to get personal...
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As folks might know, my mom is a professor at Miami Dade College ( @MDCollege). Next Monday, she will be forced to go back to the classroom and lab to teach IN PERSON.
I think this is a really, really bad idea. I'm terrified. 1/
A
:As folks might know, my mom is a professor at Miami Dade College ( @MDCollege). Next Monday, she will be forced to go back to the classroom and lab to teach IN PERSON.
I think this is a really, really bad idea. I'm terrified. 1/
On 9/14, @MDCollege's Interim Pres @drrmontoya announced a phased return to campus on 9/28 with social distancing, masking, and temperature/symptom checks: http://tinyurl.com/yxcw7drd
Nowhere in this announcement or on the website is there mention of testing or contract tracing. 2/
Nowhere in this announcement or on the website is there mention of testing or contract tracing. 2/
We know that temperature & symptoms checks are not good ways to detect #COVID19 and prevent spread. The spread seems to be occurring when those infected with the virus are pre-symptomatic but are also the most infectious. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/13/health/covid-fever-checks-dining.html 3/
@MDCollege is also a commuter college with no dorms or buildings capable of quarantining those who suspected or are infected with #COVID19. So those who do have the virus will be transmitting it to not just to their peers and professors, but to the whole community. 4/
It's unclear to me if @MiamiDadeCounty even meets @MDCollege's threshold for reopening. They said they want the test positivity rate to be less than 10% over 2 weeks (based on a @CDCgov guidelines with no clear rationale). @WHO says 5% is when govts could consider reopening. 5/
@HealthyFla says it's 4.44%, but @GeoRebekah who was fired after refusing to manipulate state data to show a lower test positivity rate and started http://FloridaCOVIDAction.com says it's 10.2% (for 9/24). Testing has also gone down over time so we have no idea what's going on. 6/
I wrote an op-ed begging @MDCollege to reconsider opening and to move to completely remote learning for the fall. They have a robust online learning platform! Plus, @univmiami & @FIU have shown that with reopening comes #COVID19 cases even with testing and contact tracing. 7/
On a more personal note, my mom for years has worked overtime, taking on teaching extra courses and labs. She did it last year so that when I had to return to work after my month of maternity leave in the spring, she would be there to help with child care. 9/
When I see her with my baby, the worries about her returning to work cloud my mind. Will she get sick with #COVID19? Will my dad who is over 65 get sick? Will they be like those patients I've taken care of...
I can't bring myself to think of the worst-case scenario...10/
I can't bring myself to think of the worst-case scenario...10/
So @MDCollege, please just do the right thing for my mom, for her colleagues, for the students, for the community - DO NOT REOPEN THIS FALL. Keep it virtual, keep it safe. My fellow docs and I know that the dual pandemic of flu (go get your flu shot) & #COVID19 is coming. 11/
Forget @GovRonDeSantis and his denial of how serious this deadly pandemic is or that he might threatening to pull funding to @MDCollege because right now, you can #BeMDC and show that you really do care by not putting my mom and everyone at risk. 12/
But if you do proceed to reopen and if anything, anything happens to my mom, my amma, my Meena's ammuma, I will hold @MDCollege @drrmontoya @LenoreRodicio @mbileca @JacksonHealth CEO Carlos Migoya, & the other Board of Trustees personally responsible. /end
