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Jennifer Heighton Profile picture
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1 Oct, 8 tweets, 5 min read
There are many problems with @CDCofBC testing & data collection for #Covid19BC. Especially for #bced.

A thread:
1/ Exposures listed on Health Authority websites don’t match reality. Many listings are missing cases or aren’t listed at all.

Example 1:
Example 2:
Missing exposures/clusters in @CDCofBC Health Authority websites is particularly bad in @VCHhealthcare.
Testing is an issue for @CDCofBC too.

Testing centres were closed over the summer and haven’t reopened, despite high numbers of #delta cases.

When you only test 1 person in a family of sick people, how does that affect numbers?
Also: With #delta spread, testing centres are so busy that lineups are several hours long. Try doing that when feeling sick, or if your child is sick.

What if you can’t wait? ➡️ People leave the line; no test, no case found.
Meanwhile, in other countries, testing is readily available and used to catch and isolate cases early.

See Denmark, a country with a similar population size to BC.

Sept. 30, BC total tests: 3.8 million.
Denmark? Over 82 million!
Denmark is also testing for asymptomatic cases, something that BC has NEVER done. How many cases is BC missing?

Denmark has been asymptomatic testing for over a year!

Read how different testing is done in Denmark, from this September 2020 article:

google.ca/amp/s/www.thel…
Conclusion:
BC has a lot of testing, data collection and reporting issues. #bced

Need to:
- be accurate & honest
- open more testing centres
- test asymptomatics

So far, @CDCofBC gets a failing grade.

You can’t keep lying forever. Do your job!

@DFisman sums it up best:

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More from @jheighton3

Jennifer Heighton Profile picture
2 Oct
1/ Thoughts on the emergency #bced COVID-19 briefing, called by #DrBonnieHenry & @JM_Whiteside on Oct. 1, 2021, after 3 major districts mandated masks for K-Gr. 3…

…A thread. 🧵
2/ First, K-12 masks were mandated for #bced.

So, *now* #DrHenry & @JM_Whiteside say “we need to keep younger children from getting infected until they are vaccinated”?!

You are only realizing this NOW? With #delta dominant?

Parents & teachers knew, even before this chart. ⬇️
3/ Ventilation still not addressed.
Despite:
- crowded classes (no distancing)
- lunch indoors (no masks)
- transmissible #delta
- K-Gr.6 unvaxxed
- 2-dose breakthroughs

Will it be another month or 2 of 📈 before action?

Reminder: Ont doing better; spent 2x BC & has HEPA!🧵⬇️
Read 17 tweets
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
22 Aug
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!
Read 18 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

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