Thread by @hishamzerriffi

#bced schools opening tmrw and my feed is combo of:
1) Schools have to open! - kids need to be in school for learning, socializing, etc.
2) Schools have to shut! - they are not safe

Things is, both these positions are correct IMHO. But BC #COVID19 policy put them at odds. (1/n)

The "schools have to open" message is bound up with four other messages:
3) School closures are hard on families/working caregivers
4) Schools are not areas of transmission and are safe
5) Kids don't get really sick from COVID19
6) Everybody is going to get it anyway

(2/n)

Let's take each of those in turn.

3) Closing schools tough on caregivers.

Yup, absolutely true. Some can't work from home and scramble to find sol'n or lose pay. Others can WFH but then have to scramble to do their job adequately while watching kids. It's tough.

3/n

But isn't difficulty in working while kids can't be in school/daycare more of an indictment of our social and economic system? Can't we figure out a way to support families when the institution that society trusts with kids suddenly can't function the same anymore?
4/n

How about (4) - Schools are safe and not area of transmission. Sigh. What to say about this? I don't think we ever really got a full picture of school transmission in BC because of how data was collected and released and assumptions in the contact tracing methodology.

5/n

The "kids don't get/spread COVID in schools" message has increasingly come to seem like dogma rather than science. Ok, COVID spreads at home? How does it get into the home? If you've decided it can't be from school and don't look at schools, how do you know?

6/n

And, finally, on this one, even if we accept that schools weren't places of infection before, surely we can see that Omicron is different. And we could have seen it a few weeks ago and prepared schools (beyond directional areas and more hand washing). #COVIDisAirborne

7/n

(5) - kids don't get sick from COVID. 1st, this has always seemed to ignore potential long-term effects of mild infections. So, even if kids were not hospitalized at high rates, doesn't mean there weren't impacts at a larger scale (let alone impact on individual families).8/n

2nd, again, even if true before, was very clear since before break that Omicron is different. And data is showing more impact on kids. The latest news from CDC on COVID and diabetes in kids is just one worrying example of how it's been underplayed.
9/n

As for (6) - Everybody is going to get it anyway so we'll just have "functional school closures" and ride the wave? It's mild, no big deal, right? 🤬
It's not mild for everyone. Kids, the immuno-compromised, the elderly, etc. It won't necessarily be mild for them.

10/n

Dismissing the disproportionate impact that COVID19 will have on the most vulnerable by saying that it is mild for most and it's "encouraging" that most people dying already had co-morbidities (CDC Director) is not a win. It's part of a long history of abhorrent beliefs. 11/n

This idea of just accepting the wave is well beyond the issue of #bced schools. It's a bigger issue of how public health authorities in this province have essentially given up. And those on the line will be health care workers, teachers, the vulnerable, parents and kids.

12/n

Counter-factuals are hard. We don't know what would have happened with diff policy. But a belief in low school transmission, minimal impact on kids and a focus on keeping the economy going has resulted in choices that mean parents have little confidence in school safety

13/n

The thing that gets me is that, if your primary objective is maintaining the economy, then you need workers, right? And you need them to be able to do their jobs. So, maybe then making really sure that schools are safe and teachers are protected would be a high priority?

14/n

Fully acknowledging and committing to #COVIDisAirborne, testing and making public ventilation data, prioritizing teachers for vaccination, providing high quality N95 masks to schools...all of those things would likely have put us in a very diff place.

15/n

Okay, rant done. Look, I'm just a parent with some knowledge about science and science policy wishing that this province had done things differently. Too late to go back and change this. But here is what I'd love to see...

16/n

If schools "must" open, it's not too late to:
-Publicly provide ventilation data and improve where needed
-Continuously monitor air exchange
-Provide N95s in schools
-Have older kids build Corsi-Rosenthal boxes - great project
-Prioritize teachers for boosters

16/16