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.
.@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…
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…
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…
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…
...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…
...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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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.
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…
“In addition, the [Intelligence Committee] was able to reach broad agreement on several other key issues. We judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon…” dni.gov/files/ODNI/doc…
“Most agencies also assess with low confidence that SARS-CoV-2 probably was not genetically engineered; however, two agencies believe there was not sufficient evidence to make an assessment either way.” dni.gov/files/ODNI/doc…
Remember when a major magazine entertained the ideas that SARS2 was a bioweapon or genetically engineered despite scientific evidence to the contrary? Good thing that didn’t happen because it would be pretty embarrassing right now…
NYC officials said it was a coincidence that its schools' mandate came the same day as full FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine and that they were planning to forge ahead even if the federal decision hadn't come today. gothamist.com/news/nyc-publi…
“One of the slides states that there is a higher risk among older age groups for hospitalization and death relative to younger people, regardless of vaccination status. Another estimates that there are 35,000 symptomatic infections per week among 162 million vaccinated Americans”
‘The slide references an outbreak in Barnstable County, Mass., where vaccinated and unvaccinated people shed nearly identical amounts of virus.” washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07…
First, I’m surprised that anyone (without an agenda) can look at this national map and essentially say “You know what? Some parts of this country are going to be alright.”
I mean, it looks like a scene from the “Floor Is Lava”
Second, many counties in the states he mentioned ***DO*** fall in the danger zones or are moving in that direction.
The eastern half of New Jersey, Suffolk County, Mass (home to Boston) and Milwaukee County, Wisc. are either under substantial or high risk.