Also good to see it has a sunset provision. I understand the need to hold everyone across the community to the same standard. That perception is important to help maintain compliance among those who've already been complying (& sacrificing to do so).
ordinance/ticketing will have a limited effect on those individuals, particularly university students, who've been flagrantly engaging in risky behavior.
Many of those students have no ties to our community. They hold misperceptions, or are ignorant of, the seriousness of... 2/
the virus & how it's transmitted. They desperately want to experience their preconceived notion of college life & newfound independence. Their brains aren't finished developing yet. There's a host of reasons contributing to why a city ordinance enforced via ticketing won't... 3/
create much of an incentive to avoid risky behavior. For some it will even be an incentive to engage in the risky behavior the ordinance is designed to limit. Flouting authority, particularly when perceived as unjust or unnecessary, enhanced somewhat in groups, is not... 4/
unusual among college students. Other strategies need to be looked at. I discussed some potential ones here: linkedin.com/pulse/creating….
We also need a greater frequency of rapid testing, along w/ much better contact tracing - on campus especially, but also in the community. 5/
That gives you some additional room to allow for a degree of risky behavior to occur - because we're not going to eliminate it.
Ultimately we should have been having these conversations months ago. And KU should have taken the lead on this, as most of it starts & ends... 6/
w/ them. I've been pretty disappointed in how KU's administration has handled things. 7/
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Our new office policy we're finalizing essentially takes this viewpoint. In 3 of our offices, we've assessed high vaxx rates combined w/ addressing the Delta far field risk via ventilation/filtration is adequate enough for vaxxed employees (almost 100%) to go sans masks. 1/
Even in metro areas currently deemed by the CDC as having high or substantial community transmission.
To have vaxxed employees go sans masks in our other 2 offices, relative to their current lower office vaxx rates, the Delta far field risk needs to be addressed through... 2/
some combination of additional ventilation/filtration improvements, increasing vaxx rates, setting lower occupancy limits, or having non-vaxxed employees WFH - we are still assessing the best path forward for each of those locations.
. That we haven't had more districts close for a period of time is pretty fortunate considering everything. 2/
That we're still arguing over the basics of how to respond to a pandemic driven by a predominantly airborne virus demonstrates a multi-level failure of public health & government, exacerbated by a history of underfunding public health, public education, current levels of... 3/
A few questions for the UV specialists. 1st, are the studies/modeling that have been done so far relative to Far UVC impacts on eyes/skin sufficient to answer questions regarding a) potential negative impacts from chronic (continuous or repeated) exposure,... 1/
b) age/developmental specific concerns related to short term or chronic exposure, & c) concerns for those w/ pre-existing eye/skin conditions after experiencing short term or chronic exposure?
2nd, have studies been done looking at the impacts on the built environment's... 2/
microbiome, & the subsequent impacts on human health? And for this 2nd question, not just relative to Far UVC, but also for more traditional upper room UVGI systems.
Manufacturers are already marketing fixtures exposing occupants to Far UVC. Do the answers to either of the... 3/
This is an all hands on deck moment. In-person school is starting. W/ the #DeltaVariant, even w/ the majority of the relevant strategies in place, it’s going to be difficult to prevent transmission in our schools (linkedin.com/pulse/in-perso…). 🧵1/
In an elementary classroom w/ unvaxxed students, generally ASHRAE compliant ventilation/filtration, the addition of (1) portable HEPA filter unit, & theoretical 100% mask wearing (double layer cloth mask), max exposure is only about 1.2 hrs before an additional student... 2/
is potentially infected at full occupancy (assuming 1 infected student is present).
Accounting for the potential reality of younger kids not always effectively wearing their masks (50% mask wearing), the max exposure is under an hour before an additional student is infected. 3/
These are the type of actions our pharmacies, hair salons, retail stores, offices, universities, k-12 schools, individual residences, etc., need to be taking, particularly w/... 1/
a more transmissible strain spreading in the U.S. & months left before vaccination levels are where needed to be.
CO2 levels can be used to estimate ventilation levels, though it's important to account for factors like the number of people present, the size of,... 2/
the space, & the use of portable air cleaners. Pages 23-24 of this document from @HarvardChanSPH & @j_g_allen provide a means for estimating ventilation rates based on measured CO2 levels. 3/
I would challenge your point that “No matter what we do, resources will remain scarce and people will compete over them.” First, there’s an abundance of evidence from the archaeological, historical, & contemporary ethnographic records of individuals & groups cooperating... 1/
(employing some or all of Ostrom’s principles) to survive in environments of scarce resources (& not just hunter/gatherer groups). Not saying the evidence for competition (including violent competition) isn’t also there, or that the competition between groups isn’t also... 2/
what often drives the cooperation among group members (because it does), only that cooperation seems to have been most effective when these principles are applied (even as part of a larger competition between groups).