Tweet

Jez Roff

Feb 7 • 19 tweets • 9 min read

1/ A thread on COVID safety in Queensland schools, clean air interventions, and independent schools...

#covidschools #brisbane

2/ Our eldest is due to start back in Term 1 at school today. Like many others we looked at the Queensland Government "back to school plan" and it's... woefully inadequate

qed.qld.gov.au/covid19/back-t…

3/ The plan exposes kids to MUCH greater risk of COVID than it should. As far as I'm aware NONE of the local public schools have been assessed for adequate ventilation, no HEPA units have been purchased, it's set up for failure

4/ The current QLD plan for public schools states "Our excellent Queensland weather means that ventilation of learning spaces can often occur naturally by opening windows and doors"

5/ Anyone who has gone through a QLD summer knows this is an outright lie. On hot days when temps exceed 30°C and wind is <2 knots there is NO way classrooms will get the recommended 6 ACH

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

6/ Which leaves kids at QLD public schools at high risk from short-range transmission of COVID-19

@RealOzSAGE

7/ We are *exceptionally* fortunate to be part of an independent school community here in #Brisbane. We met with the principal and came up with a plan for HEPA filtration in classrooms following @RealOzSAGE guidelines:

ozsage.org/wp-content/upl…

8/ Minimum ACH for each classroom was calculated using this EXCELLENT tool, and we purchased a total of 36 Samsung AX5500 units for classrooms (3-7 in each room depending on room size)

tools.cleanairstars.com/filtersnew/

9/ This was NOT a cheap option and was a substantial long-term investment by the school

10/ The school also invested in CO2 monitors for every classroom that allow real-time monitoring, alarms and logging of MONTHS of data to get a better handle on how the ventilation approach is working

11/ A group of parents spent the weekend with a smoke machine setting up classrooms - adjusting airflow with fans and positioning the units in each classroom. The outcome? It WORKS. A *massive* increase in air-flow with aerosols extracted through open doors and windows

12/ Following all this, we came up with a "Clean Air Classrooms" guideline - an adaptive strategy that combines:

- natural ventilation
- mechanical extraction
- CO2 monitoring
- HEPA filters

13/ By investing at this level, our independent school is at the forefront of QLD schools in keeping kids safe in the classroom, and I'm enormously proud of the collective efforts

14/ I feel VERY fortunate to have my kids at a proactive independent school, and I'm frustrated at the lack of support and planning by the QLD government to implement similar approaches at public schools. It's a systemic failure to act after MONTHS of knowing the risks

https://twitter.com/ColinKinner/status/1489971428246290436

15/ The current level of misinformation from the QLD government right now is NEXT level. Here's just one example:

https://twitter.com/ColinKinner/status/1489971428246290436

16/ Our kid isn't back at school today, but will be back in a few weeks after his second vaccination. Again, we are *incredibly* fortunate to be in a situation where we can make this work, literally hundreds of thousands of families have no other option