Thread by @IrfanDhalla

Thread: 6 things I'd suggest we do differently.

https://twitter.com/IrfanDhalla/status/1323599813179592706

1. Every day, in every way, emphasize the core behaviours we want to encourage:
-stay home except for essential purposes, school, health care and healthy outdoor activity
-get tested and self-isolate if symptomatic, even mildly
-get tested if exposed
-emphasize work from home

2. Improve our #TestTraceIsolate strategy.

Don't let perfection be the enemy of the good.

Keep making testing more accessible.

Restart contact tracing.
Calling 50% of contacts is better than calling no contacts.

Keep improving and tweaking.

3. Continue to improve infection prevention and control in schools and daycares.

Studies suggest that when kids get infected, they do spread the virus to adults.

Again, don't let perfection be the enemy of the good.

4. Tweaks to restrictions.

These can go both ways - we might be able to ease some restrictions while we tighten others.

I'd suggest we not allow indoor team sports and indoor gatherings at places of worship.

In a few weeks, I'd suggest we consider re-opening cinemas.

5. Highlight success stories from Ontario, other provinces and around the world. These can be personal (e.g., the person who was contacted by public health before they went to work while infected but asymptomatic) or about a system-level success.

Help people believe we can win.

6. Monitor quarantine for returning travelers. This might seem like a "last mile" problem but it signals a commitment to containment.

Without this, we're fighting a forest fire in a drought while continuing to allow people to start campfires.

I think it's reasonably probable that these 6 strategies can bring R down from ~1.1 to ~0.9, without a huge amount of pain.

I could be wrong of course.

The only way to know will be to follow a set of indicators and adjust our strategies as needed.