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/

#ksed #ksleg
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/
If students had N95/KN95 masks, the probability of infection would substantially decrease (assuming they were correctly & consistently worn). At 100% mask wearing, the max exposure is well over 6 hrs before an additional student is potentially infected. 4/
But accounting for inconsistent wearing (50% mask wearing), that max exposure time is still pretty low - 1.25 hrs. Which speaks to the importance of using a mask that will be consistently worn correctly, & working w/ kids to make sure they are doing so.

This analysis also... 5/
emphasizes the importance of implementing all of the relevant mitigation strategies in our schools (& again, avoid additive air cleaning tech - ; also see @marwa_zaatari's excellent recent thread on air cleaners: ). 6/
And it emphasizes the importance of communities taking the appropriate measures to reduce their community transmission rates - universal mask wearing, creative vaccination initiatives (or mandates), canceling or postponing indoor/outdoor crowded events (or going online),... 7/
limiting indoor dining, improving community building ventilation & filtration, gofundme campaigns to purchase age appropriate high efficiency masks for all kids, etc. Keeping community transmission low goes a long way to reducing the total risk of transmission in our schools. 8/
The previous figure shows how both the number of people present & the community transmission rate influence the likelihood that an infected person is present, and therefore the total risk in a given setting.

The health risk to our kids is real, as well as the continued... 9/
disruption to their education & social/emotional well-being that’s going to happen if we have large groups of students/staff frequently quarantining or have to go back to remote learning for a time. The financial impacts on school districts have also been extensive. 10/
Many students/families not surprisingly left their districts last year, translating into losses of millions of dollars to district budgets this year. That has been devastating (inequitably so) to so many districts who were already struggling financially. 11/
Many districts projected the start of a recovery process this year as families started to come back. But any recovery is now in jeopardy w/ Delta, & they could even lose more students depending on how these 1st weeks/months go. 12/
Communities would do well to remember that their own success is closely tied to a thriving public education system.

Advocate w/ your community leaders to come together & drive their transmission rates back down. 13/

#DeltaVariant #schoolreopening
Schools have barely started & in some already seeing transmission high enough to force a return to virtual. Students are ending up in the hospital & dying. From a lack of needed school & community measures. Community leaders must step up. 14/

cnn.com/2021/08/11/us/…
@LDCHEALTH @douglascountyks @lawrenceks - where are our community mask mandates, limits on large gatherings, & emphasis/guidance on improving ventilation/filtration?

School starts this week & schools need community action to drive down transmission. 15/

kansascity.com/news/coronavir…
“The Delta variant is now picking off all the young unvaccinated people who have been lucky enough to escape Covid so far...” We may not get as bad as the south, @douglascountyks @lawrenceks @LDCHEALTH, but we should take action to help ensure that. 16/

theguardian.com/world/2021/aug…
And some great reporting from @marysdesk on school, masks, & vaccination in the south. Districts, public health officials, & communities have to pay attention to what’s going on beyond their county line. The virus doesn’t care about borders. 17

megaphone.link/SLT8599372943

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Marcel Harmon (he/him)

Marcel Harmon (he/him) Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @MarcelHarmon1

5 Jan
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/

@KDHE @LDCHEALTH @lawrenceks @douglascountyks @UnivOfKansas @usd497 @LawrenceChamber #ksleg #ksed
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/

schools.forhealth.org/ventilation-gu…
Read 16 tweets
3 Jan
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).

Cooperating (& squashing toxic individualism) was... 3/
Read 17 tweets
22 Sep 20
Sure. I think that’s great advice, whether or not we’re in a pandemic. As high performance bldg consultants, we’ve been doing that since last March. Engaging school districts to help them work through building/behavioral strategies for reopening relevant to their situation. 1/
As part of that effort we also developed a viral infection risk estimator to help districts (in conjunction w/us, by themselves, or w/ other consultants) evaluate the most effective strategies room by room. Particularly important when resources are limited. I know other... 2/
consultants have been doing similar things (though perhaps not the behavior focus or developing calculators).

But there are limits to such efforts, or other local partnerships w/ businesses, short of a nationally coordinated effort to reopen schools. Decades of deferred... 3/
Read 14 tweets
21 Sep 20
Thoroughly enjoyed this week’s @inquiringshow podcast consisting of @indrevis’s interview of Sara Hendrin regarding her new book: What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World. I love it when the tables are flipped relative to our views of the... 1/

stitcher.com/s?eid=77748790
built environment, particularly when that flipping provides a more comprehensive & inclusive focus on people. This idea isn’t new - that people are disabled not because of their bodies or brains but because of the physical environment we’ve created. But Hendrin provides... 2/
an insightful, inspiring, & hopeful take on it.

As they covered sign language in relation to the built environment, I couldn’t help but wonder how reopening schools would be impacted if we all generally knew sign language. Signing during... 3/

#schoolsreopening #ksed
Read 8 tweets
18 Sep 20
Ha! Yeah, Lawrencians are rarely shy about sharing their opinions.

It is true that some of what I discussed either requires larger societal structural change or starting the process to address several months ago. And I do recognize we're now faced w/ a somewhat dire situation.1/
But based on what I know about behavior, I think the ordinance/ticketing won't do much to change the risky behavior of those students already engaged in it. Though as I said before, it could help maintain the behavior of those already complying by reinforcing a perception... 2/
of fairness. I could be wrong (it's not uncommon), but we'll find out.

Something that could be done right now is for KU to convene an emergency working session w/ Greek students, other student groups, faculty, etc. to work out behavior related rules, monitoring procedures,... 3/
Read 6 tweets
18 Sep 20
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).

But I think the... 1/
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/
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(