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22 Aug, 18 tweets, 13 min read
1/ To @JM_Whiteside:
You are in a highly-charged position right now.
What to do about #bced schools?
- delta v 📈
- K-Gr.6 kids unvaxxed
- crowded classrms

On one hand, you have parents clamouring for more safety. On the other, “back-to-normal”.

Let’s talk about balance.

🧵⬇️:
2/ “Balance” is the term that seems to persist in @bcndp’s pandemic response. It hasn’t gone well so far. Multiple waves, highly preventable, w/ premature openings & late masking being a common theme.

But do we “balance” our approach to other harmful health hazards?
3/ Take smoking, for example. We tried “non-smoking vs. smoking” sections in restaurants & airplanes. But now harms of second-hand smoke have led to laws *banning all indoor smoking & outdoors by public entrances.

Do we “balance” the “right to smoke” w/ “right to clean air?” No!
4/ Public health is prioritized over people’s choice to smoke cigarettes. Correct & accepted. And if smokers don’t like it, too bad. They need to follow rules, for everyone’s health. Mandating works.

So…how does this apply to #bced, as you, @JM_Whiteside, finalize the plan?
5/ First, delta is different.

Read this physician/epidemiologist’s tweet AND the article that he references.

And check news from USA re: paediatric ICUs and delta. It’s sobering. Remember, our 0-11s are just as unvaxxed as theirs.

@JM_Whiteside
6/ If you, @JM_Whiteside, need more proof that delta affects kids more, read this long thread filled with real-life tragedies in kids from the USA.
7/ Also see what epidemiologists have noticed in Ontario:

Yes, delta is affecting kids more.

Do you really want to open schools w/o mitigation measures for delta? When BC only has 27 paediatric ICU beds?

@JM_Whiteside
8/ But, you say, #bced schools are safe! @CDCofBC says so!

Let’s point out some discrepancies w/ @CDCofBC.

Here, an explanation of how @CDCofBC’s site is inaccurate when it comes to schools:
9/ And @CDCofBC does not collect or publish adequate data to prove that in-school transmissions were “low” or not.

@JM_Whiteside
10/ The few snippets of data that *is* released (example leaked @Fraserhealth report over only 9 weeks, pre-variants) show more in-school spread, despite limited testing, than @CDCofBC would like to admit.

@JM_Whiteside
11/ And the @VCHhealthcare school study released in June was so flawed that it hasn’t passed peer review yet, no doubt because of many factors, lots explained in this 🧵and in the comments below it:

@JM_Whiteside
12/ But vaccines, you say!! @CDCofBC reassures us that if enough people are vaccinated, that protects the children.

Unfortunately, @JM_Whiteside, that’s not true for this virus. Read about it in this expert’s explanation of how “herd immunity” doesn’t work for #Covid19:
13/ So what do we do for #bced schools, now that delta is dominant & spreading rapidly in the community? How can we open schools and *keep them open*, safely & with minimal learning disruption?

Read this indoor air quality expert, dean of engineering’s step-by-step explanation:
14/ It’s widely accepted now that #COVIDisAirborne. Yet why has @CDCofBC @DrBonnieHenry been so reluctant to put in measures to mitigate airborne spread?

Note that those who choose #DropletDogma will not be treated well in their legacies. @JM_Whiteside

Read the thread ⬇️.
15/ Back to the essential Q, @JM_Whiteside - What to do about #bced schools?

If you truly want expert advice, check out this excellent school safety presentation from multiple scientists, aerosol experts & epidemiologists from around the 🌎. They have been right, over & over.
16/ Airborne mitigations for delta in schools mean universal masks, *plus* HEPA air purifiers & MERV13 filters. None of which are part of the #bced plan (yet - @JM_Whiteside, you have the power & pursestrings to change this). If Ontario & NY can do it, so can BC.

Aerosol expert:
17/ Another point to keep in mind as you, @JM_Whiteside, weigh whether to reopen #bced w/ minimal protections against delta:
A “near-normal” school opening excludes vulnerable families from accessing an education. Human rights violation?

➡️ Quality online options needed.
18/ So, back to “balance”.

True leaders need to make decisions for the better, b/c they know it is RIGHT.

Balance doesn’t apply.

See: smoking laws, drinking-&-driving laws. Some ppl won’t like it, but for society’s sake, it must be done.

Same here. Be that leader. For kids.

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More from @jheighton3

Jennifer Heighton Profile picture
3 Sep
Let’s talk about ventilation for #bced schools. And @bcndp funding for it.

Ontario vs. BC, a case study.

@JM_Whiteside @jjhorgan @selinarobinson:
Are you going to let a Conservative gov’t show you up as misers? Or will @bcndp at least match their efforts? Read on.

A thread:
First, planning.

Ontario’s Ministry of Education has a *13 page* ventilation document, complete with funding, expectations & checklists.

@bcndp Maybe use this as a guide? ⬇️

efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/B20…
Whereas BC has no ventilation document at all. Just a page in their “Communicable Disease Guidelines for K-12 Settings”, August 24, 2021.
Link:
www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/edu…

Compare the language used, Ontario to BC. Whose is closer to #COVIDisAirborne science?🤯

Photo of page:
Read 19 tweets
Jennifer Heighton Profile picture
1 Jul
BC authorities are trying to rewrite history by claiming that BC schools were magically safe during the #COVID19 pandemic year.

There are a lot of holes in their claims.

Here to set the record straight-a thread for #bced, class of 20-21.
@JM_Whiteside @jjhorgan @DrBonnieHenry
July 29, 2020. @bcndp @DrBonnieHenry reveal the 5-stage reopening plan for #bced. Surprise! Stage 2 has been revamped to include a FULL return to classes; no 50% capacity for G.8-12 as previously planned. Cohort model, no masks, limited online options. @bctf not consulted.
There are immediate concerns with the #bced plan for the 20/21 school year. Twitter explodes with teachers, staff & parents noting several issues with it. Many concerns are summarized in this article here:
Read 29 tweets
Jennifer Heighton Profile picture
10 May
What if @bcndp @CDCofBC are approaching this pandemic all wrong?

Drs Henry & Gustafson say fear of “stigma” is the reason for not releasing data.

Boom. There it is. The underlying driving force behind many #Covid19BC decisions.

But does it have to be this way?

A thread:
1/
Attaching stigma to an illness is a social construct. That means we have control over whether we do that or not.

There are many illnesses, even communicable ones, that have no stigma attached. Flu, colds, chicken pox, measles.

No one is “at fault” for catching/spreading.
2/
We also have illnesses where stigma *has* been attached. The HIV virus comes to mind. And that stigma proved to be damaging in so many ways. It’s taken many years of activism to reduce the stigma there.

How is it that public health has not learned from that experience?
3/
Read 13 tweets
Jennifer Heighton Profile picture
7 Mar
BC media, please understand why #bced feels abandoned by DBH’s “Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe” slogan.

If DBH was KIND to school communities by listening to concerns & working to make schools SAFER, we would be CALM. But she has ignored evidence and gaslit us instead.

A thread:
First: DBH claims that “in-school transmission is low” and that school cases “reflect the community”.

Yet several studies have proven otherwise.
Study 1) Montreal study, explained by 🇨🇦 epidemiologist:
Study 2) Belgian study shows much higher prevalence in young children, once they started testing schools more (catching previously-missed asymptomatic cases).
New Z epidemiologist reports:
Read 24 tweets
Jennifer Heighton Profile picture
5 Dec 20
Why are people questioning BC’s Covid response? If we look at BC’s situation with a calm, critical thinking lens, this is what a lot of people are seeing with our provincial response: (THREAD)

#RedFlagCovidBC
#bced #bcpoli
@CDCofBC @bcndp @adriandix
@JM_Whiteside

1/17
First #RedFlagCovidBC : BC doesn't acknowledge a- or pre-symptomatic spread of this virus, which scientists have documented in droves. Instead, BC tells contacts to “self-monitor” themselves for symptoms but keep going to school or work if they are symptom-free. #bced
2/17
Second #RedFlagCovidBC: Experts agree that community spread should be low (measured by test +ivity rates) for schools to operate safely. Yet BC (esp @Fraserhealth) has had consistently high positivity rates in the last several weeks. No change to the #bced plan, even in FH.
3/17
Read 17 tweets

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