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Schools are also an upstream enabler if the rest of our economy in a way that bars, gyms and restaurants are not. https://twitter.com/SarahAElton/status/1322137070228414465
Look, I’ve been saying for months now that schools are the one mass gathering it’s hard to cancel.
We don’t want to close them. That’s why reducing class sizes is so critically important.
We don’t want to close them. That’s why reducing class sizes is so critically important.
Looking at data, our hospitalizations and icu’s are surprisingly flat in Ontario. I get that this sucks for people in affected businesses, but the closures are targeted, and many of the outbreak hotspots aren’t close-able.
LTC and hospitals? No, need those.
Food processing plants and food stores? Need those too.
Religious gatherings? I think those could be restricted but I’m not a person of faith and many others are. To them these are essential services.
Food processing plants and food stores? Need those too.
Religious gatherings? I think those could be restricted but I’m not a person of faith and many others are. To them these are essential services.
So what about schools? Does it make sense to inflict this pain on bars, restaurants and gyms only to amplify disease in schools? No, it doesn’t.
That’s why teachers have been calling for action on reducing class sizes for months. Your move, @Sflecce
That’s why teachers have been calling for action on reducing class sizes for months. Your move, @Sflecce
And given that people seem to regard Ontario as sui generis, a place so unique that lessons and data from other places can’t possibly be assumed to apply to us, let’s make some Ontario data.
Let’s replicate this cdc study in Ontario with a focus on the 50% of cases with no epi link https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6936a5.htm
Let’s start using phylogenetics to understand our epidemiology better as has been done in Quebec. Which outbreaks are pseudo-outbreaks? Which outbreaks are we missing? This tech can help. https://virological.org/t/genomic-epidemiology-of-early-introductions-of-sars-cov-2-into-the-canadian-province-of-quebec/553
This was the sort of work PHO was created to do, though at this point that agency is so diminished that I don’t think that’s on the table.
To be clear: Ontario is doing ok, and better than I expected. People are getting sick from, and dying from, this f*ing disease, but we don’t have a health crisis on our hands to rival what’s emerging in western Canada.
That means measures in place are doing what they’re intended to do.
Spare me the “we shut stuff and nothing happened” garbage. You’re smarter than that. Yeah, you.
Spare me the “we shut stuff and nothing happened” garbage. You’re smarter than that. Yeah, you.
Could we do with an upgrade on PH leadership? Sure. I’ve been saying that for months, as has @DorisGrinspun, but there’s clearly no appetite for that. So, let’s play the cards we’re dealt as best we can.
Here endeth ye rant.
Here endeth ye rant.
