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Nsikan Akpan, PhD Profile picture
@MoNscience
Sep 3, 2021 • 15 tweets • 13 min read • Read on X
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Today @NYCMayor de Blasio told @BrianLehrer that @WNYC/@Gothamist's recent series on ventilation in @NYCSchools is inaccurate

He should read our latest:

NYC Officials Say School Windows Can Always Offer Solid Ventilation. Independent Scientists Disagree
gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic…
And as a fun exercise in science media literacy, let's break down the Mayor's response...
Two weeks ago, Brian Lehrer asked @NYCMayor/@BilldeBlasio whether he had heard that the air purifiers @NYCSchools had purchased for every classroom in the city lacked HEPA filters, an industry standard.

The mayor said he'd look into it.
wnyc.org/story/ask-mayo… Image
Brian followed up today, and @NYCMayor made a few questionable claims.

First, he said @NYCSchools' Intellipure air filters "are actually regarded as more rigorous than HEPA." (gothamist.com/news/ask-the-m…)

Not only did our independent experts disagree... gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic… ImageImage
...including this pointed statement on HEPA filters from @HuffmanLabDU...

gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic… Image
And as we cite, a ***CDC ventilation expert*** told the high school paper @thhsclassic that:

A) Non-HEPA filters should NOT be described as to considered to be HEPA filters.

B) HEPA filters improve over time, which isn't always the case for knockoffs. thhsclassic.com/2021/08/31/the… Image
.@NYCSchools and the Mayor's health advisers are fully aware of these evidence- and expert-based counterpoints to his first point, as we have informed them multiple times.
Second, @NYCMayor claimed he has evidence that
@NYCSchools' Intellipure purifiers in combination windows-alone could offer enough ventilation

A) His senior health adviser/consultant told us DOE hasn't provided him with ventilation data from classrooms... gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic… ImageImage
B) His senior health adviser and our independent experts agree that air purifiers don't contribute to ventilation (i.e., replace tainted air with fresh air), despite the mayor's assertion.
gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic… Image
C) Our indep. experts have said windows alone cannot provide suitable ventilation for all rooms at all times, due to weather conditions/the size of the rooms.

One has even conducted a study of Northeast schools (outside of NYC) showing just that...
gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic… Image
D) @NYCMayor says he has evidence that Intellipure purifiers and windows-only rooms can prevent SARS2 infections from the last school year

I'd love to see it. What I do know is that last year, @NYCSchools weren't at full capacity and we weren't dealing with the delta variant...
...I do know that John Shea, head of the Division of School Facilities at @NYCSchools, says they won't publicly release ventilation (airflow/CO2 measurements) for individual classrooms. gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic… Image
...I do know that @NYCMayor's health adviser keeps claiming that there's no solid evidence that HEPA filters can prevent infectious disease, when there is and when I've shared these studies with them.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac…

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

nature.com/articles/17012… ImageImageImageImage
...and I know, as of early this week, there are 4,000 NYC classrooms that have been cleared for in-person occupancy despite only having windows and non-HEPA air purifiers
gothamist.com/news/nyc-appro…
Finally, what @NYCMayor may NOT know about me is that I'm tenacious, and I bring receipts.

P.S. I do know that I'm waiting for the mayor or any of his surrogates to actually show proof to back their claims about our reporting: gothamist.com/tags/nyc-schoo…

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More from @MoNscience

Nsikan Akpan, PhD Profile picture
Jun 10, 2023
NYC officials expected a modest smoke plume to sweep through the area Friday night -- and it did. gothamist.com/news/modest-sm…
Thankfully, the rain helped dampen things, but the city still recorded a moderate bump in AQI around 10 pm.
gothamist.com/news/modest-sm… Image
Yesterday's smoke forecast from NOAA predicted another plume could flow through early Sunday morning (video below).

I checked again this morning that forecast is still holding steady.
gothamist.com/news/modest-sm…
Read 5 tweets
Nsikan Akpan, PhD Profile picture
Jan 2, 2022
A Lancet preprint looks at omicron's severity in its early epicenter, Gauteng, South Africa

Many are discussing the overall result: This wave experienced much less severe disease than past waves.

But the age breakdowns tell a slightly different story... papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
Cases: In past waves, people younger than 39 (blue) made up ~50% of cases.

With omicron, they accounted for 67% in this study.

We know that young adults fare better than older ones with COVID, which could be lowering overall severity with the latest wave.
Cases: Another way to look at things...

During the delta wave, young adults (20-39) had a case rate (blue) that was half the rate for seniors older than 60 (red).

During omicron, it flipped. The young adult case rate is now 56% higher.
Read 9 tweets
Nsikan Akpan, PhD Profile picture
Dec 20, 2021
Welp, that escalated quickly.

Omicron now makes up 92% of sequenced cases in the New York and New Jersey region, based on the latest data from the CDC. That's up from the 13% reported last week.

Nationally, omicron is 73%, up from 12% reported last week.
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tra…
Some important context for this rapid rise:

1. I mentioned to @Steronious on @WNYC this weekend that we might eventually learn that omicron arrived here well before its first detection, based on evidence from overseas... wnyc.org/story/gov-hoch…
I am now wondering if this increase is partially due to increased efforts to find omicron cases. The variant is undoubtedly spreading 2-3x faster than delta...but damn, what a jump!

No matter what is ultimately revealed, we need more resources for genomic surveillance.
Read 11 tweets
Nsikan Akpan, PhD Profile picture
Dec 19, 2021
NY reported another 21,908 COVID positives on Saturday — breaking a record for the 2nd day in a row.

But these milestones don't mean the state has reached its worst peak. Far from it...and some signs point to improvement.

Me for @WNYC/@Gothamist
gothamist.com/news/ny-breaks…
Indeed, the U.S. COVID outbreak could be transitioning into an endemic — where the coronavirus would continue to thrive in perpetuity, but vaccinated people would be largely spared the worst outcomes.
gothamist.com/news/ny-breaks…
A COVID endemic would mean riding this rollercoaster of infection waves every few months or perhaps just every winter, and it could be brutal for unvaccinated people.

But it would be eased by better access to testing/masks/ventilation... gothamist.com/news/ny-breaks…
Read 4 tweets
Nsikan Akpan, PhD Profile picture
Oct 13, 2021
If You’ve Had Covid, Do You Need the Vaccine? ✍️: ⁦@apoorva_nyc⁩

Spoiler: Yep nytimes.com/2021/10/12/hea…
“Some consistent patterns have emerged: Two doses of an mRNA vaccine produce more antibodies, and more reliably, than an infection with the coronavirus does.”

nytimes.com/2021/10/12/hea…
“Only 85 percent to 90 percent of people who test positive for the virus and recover have detectable antibodies to begin with. The strength and durability of the response is variable.”
nytimes.com/2021/10/12/hea…
Read 4 tweets
Nsikan Akpan, PhD Profile picture
Aug 31, 2021
NYC Approves 4,000 Classrooms For In-Person Schooling Despite Unreliable Ventilation

Part 2 of our look at the city's back-to-school COVID precautions...

✍️: @clewisreports for @WNYC / @Gothamist
gothamist.com/news/nyc-appro…
Looking through building surveys conducted by NYC's Department of Education, @jeffwilen found thousands of classrooms have been cleared for occupancy despite relying exclusively on functioning windows for ventilation.

She even made an interactive map.🙏🙌
gothamist.com/news/nyc-appro… Image
@jeffwilen Got interrupted mid-thread. Dang work. Let's continue.

Aerosol scientists would probably raise their eyebrows at this part about the classrooms "relying exclusively on functioning windows for ventilation"...
gothamist.com/news/nyc-appro…
Read 13 tweets

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