Thread by @DrEricDing

TEACHERS & STUDENTS Covid in Quebec🇨🇦—Active #COVID19 cases surged faster in teachers & students than Quebec public.

📌Pre-holidays, school cases surged faster than general population.

📌Schools closed for holidays—cases plummet

📌Winter break over—school cases rose again. 🧵

2) Furthermore, after Jan 18 2021, in what age group was there the fastest relative % increase in cases?

➡️ 17% relative increase in kids age 0-9 years.

➡️ Kids increase was much higher in 0-9 than any other age group.

Figure by @NickDrouin. Thank you sir.

3) We know #B117 is rising across Canada. If it’s B117, there is something funny with in the 0-9 age group.... the attack rate relative increase for B117 vs old strain were also the highest in the UK 🇬🇧 for age 0-9 than older ages. This is seen in both the shortcut B117 test...

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1347745270700904449

4) ... as well as seen in the direct genetic sequencing of #B117 in UK. The relative % increase compared to old strain was higher in kids 0-9 again...

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1347745279320186880

5) Teacher cases of #COVID19 was also among the highest occupations in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1364337853036187648

6) Let’s return to this Quebec 🇨🇦 figure for active cases per capita...

➡️Look how during the winter holiday school break— the cases plummeted in teachers (orange) and students (blue) alike.

➡️In contrast, cases in general public CONTINUED TO SOAR (grey)!

What a difference!

7) That’s also maybe why Teaching Assistants are among those in the list with excess mortality during pandemic era vs past years in the US. Lower than many other blue collar jobs, but made top list.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1355406044122513414

8) in Canada 🇨🇦, COVID is rising fastest in Quebec, but also rising in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. #B117 is already known to be prevalent in Ontario, and recent BC cases in Surrey are linked to B117 too.

https://twitter.com/covidschoolsCA/status/1363827066697875457

9) Quebec doctor @lisa_iannattone notes that schools did not mandate masks for kids under age 10, which could also explain the faster surge in students age 0-9 (seen in post #2 above).

https://twitter.com/lisa_iannattone/status/1364409348856938497

10) Also, here is kids data last fall in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿—@SarahDRasmussen points out that there seems to be a “phase change” — she theorizes that below a certain point, kids are not more transmissible than adults. But above a certain prevalence, kids start having more #COVID19.

11) What about UK? Did we see similar pediatric trend once schools reopened in England?

Yes, kids cases diverged from adults and had higher positivity than adults.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1360289161291390983

12) and we need better ventilation in schools. Ventilation + air cleaning are just as important as masks. Here is a detailed thread 🧵 on how to make school classrooms safe.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1364062371883470853