Thread by @smartrestartaps

1/ Regarding music classes, @APSArts, students who participate in indoor singing were 2.8 times MORE likely to get #COVID19 in Omaha schools study. Also, air samples from choir rooms contained virus, even w/ kids singing in masks.
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

https://twitter.com/smartrestartaps/status/1385119209554915328?s=20

2/ CDC: "High-risk extracurricular activities are those in which increased exhalation occurs…” CDC recommends activities be canceled or held virtually (unless ALL participants are fully vaccinated) when a community is in high transmission.
cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…

3/ APS, go outside to sing; it’s best and requires little to no mitigation!

Best resource so for performing #arts and #COVID19, including other recommendations for band and orchestra 👇

Caveat: #DeltaVariant requires extra precautions, not minimums!

nfhs.org/articles/retur…

4/ In case you missed it, this story chronicles how a choir showed the world #COVIDIsAirborne.

We do not need to relearn the same lessons over and over again, APS. Make good choices, especially for our elementary school children who are unvaccinated.

nytimes.com/interactive/20…

5/ The most disturbing thing about plans just to rotate kids through music rooms “like normal” is that multiple grades/classes would be sharing the same sometimes poorly ventilated airspaces, leaving their exhaled germs behind for the next class.

6/ There is no plan to flush the music rooms out between classes, per guidance from ASHRAE whose pandemic advisory task force lists time required between occupancy. Colleges near us have such timed “empty periods” required between room uses. APS doesn’t bother.

7/ There is not enough ventilation/filtration to provide EXTRA air cleaning for music. Respiratory particles, emitted with last 🎶 sung by one class, will still be hanging in the air up to 70 minutes later. Next class can breathe that in.

They won’t ever contact trace this.

8/ Here’s a look at just how many more particles are emitted via singing, compared to other activities.

But ventilation and filtration in our music rooms have not been increased to a point where it would effectively mitigate the FAR greater risk.

https://twitter.com/akm5376/status/1428993984018489345?s=20