Latest in a series of good pieces this week on the mixed evidence and expert opinion on the role of schools in the pandemic. But here’s what really got me in this one.... lesoleil.com/actualite/covi…
Through the fall, when schools had clusters of cases, public health would send in teams to mass-test the schools.
Trove of data right? Wrong!
Shout out to the three public health units and the principal of École Jeunes-du-Monde who appear to have kept some accounting.
You’ll be shocked to know that extremely limited data has mixed results!
Also, shout out to @clicjf for the excellent piece and giving it the old college try to get the data.
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Let’s just walk through It.
Let’s say little Johnny showed up at school Monday with a runny nose and his eagle eyed teacher caught it immediately.
Little Johnny goes home. Likely tested Tuesday earliest. Let’s say the system was lighting quick. Test result Wednesday earliest. 2
The earliest little Johnny shows up in the stats is Thursday assuming everything is this lightning quick.
So let’s say little Johnny gave it to classmate Marie. It usually takes 5-6 days to get symptoms, but let’s say Marie shows in 2 days. 3.
Quebec reports 835 active school cases as of Friday, before primary schools reopened. As of last Monday, the first day of online school, it was 90.
You can expect this spike to continue this week as school surveillance, one of its undervalued pandemic functions, kicks in.
There will be many people shouting how the spike that will take place this week proves schools are unsafe. Don't listen to them.
Just to be clear: Quebec's school cases rose from 90 to 835 in a week where all school was online for the simple reason students, parents and teachers were once again communicating.
They will now rise even more because teachers are watching.
A pile of police have been deployed near Ubisoft for what has been reported so far as a hostage taking, an armed robbery, a bomb threat, and/or a large ransom demand.
An SPVM spokesperson says they are in "verification mode." No event has yet been confirmed.
It is quite unusual that at this stage there would be no information about the cause of a deployment this big.
I understand why closing schools is tempting. Quebec has had an extended lockdown banning social visits and closing almost all recreational and entertainment activity. All we got is a month-long plateau in new cases at a high level followed now by the start of another rise. 2/
Deaths and hospitalizations are steadily rising. Something has to break and the government does not want to close more commercial activity, where 54% of outbreaks take place, compared to 15% for educational institutions. 3/
This is not to undercut a fine piece of reporting, but was anyone outside BC ever under the impression science had the last word on any of this? thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
Even in BC when everyone was praising Dr. Henry for following best practices she was also engaged in a campaign of moral suasion (ie: politics) a large percentage of the time.
While I’m here, a couple people have pointed out Dr. Henry has declined to mandate masks and has rejected the covid app. Which, given BC has performed better than any province outside the Atlantic, illustrates science is only part of the answer.
Quebec is updating the back to school plan it unveiled early in the summer. Ed Min Jean-François Roberge, Health Minister Christian Dubé and director of public health Horacio Arruda are presiding.
First an update on the computer system update that is causing Quebec stats delays: It's coming, Dubé says. Today. He promises.
98 new cases today. First time under 100 in a month.