💯. I fully expect some in middle leadership positions at @uofg to try to deflect the blame (senior admin probably not because they have to kiss Ford's ring). The province starving universities and destructive mismanagement at @uofg are two major problems.
To be clear: every university in Ontario is feeling the effects of government policies. But @uofg is doing exceptionally poorly because of financial mismanagement and erosion of collegial governance by the current senior admin. Now they are panicked and causing even more damage.
I say the senior administration, but the Board of Governors is complicit in putting us in this position and continues to be complicit as long as they refuse to exercise oversight or impose accountability. If we go "full Laurentian", it's on them *and* the senior admin.
Btw, I quit the Board of Governors at @uofg specifically because they refused to hold the senior admin to account. This is made even worse by the Secretariat, which does their best to shield the admin from accountability.
"Arcturus" is being used in many reports about the XBB.1.16 variant. This was specifically NOT a "scary" name, it's not a mythological creature (it's a star), and it's not causing confusion.
Nicknames remain useful, especially now that @WHO has changed the rules for Greek letters to make it almost certain that it will all be "Omicron" unless something arises in a new lineage. They have one variant of interest (XBB.1.5, "Kraken") but VOIs don't get letters anymore.
@WHO also has a (rather outdated) list of variants under minitoring, all of which got nicknames weeks or even months ago:
Fortunately, and as some of us said from the outset, XBB.1.5 (Kraken) has not caused major waves of infections/hospitalizations/deaths. However, it has contributed to the pattern of ups and downs around an unsustainably high baseline in many places.
With some very notable exceptions (e.g., China, where it's largely BF.7.14 and BA.5.2.48 derivatives), there are very few BA.5* lineage variants still present in significant percentages, after BA.5s (incl. BQ.1/BQ.1.1) caused waves in some places.
The Provost at @uofg has never taught a course here at any level of any size.
I have taught >10,000 students, at every level from 1st year through 4th year and post-graduate. Huge lectures and small seminars, classroon/lab/field, in person and remote, solo and team taught.
1/
I think about this fact when I hear of possible decisions from the top like "cancel all courses with enrollments less than 15 students". I think about how I have taught courses with 400, 600, even 1,000 students, and other courses with 10 or 12.
2/
Some of the most impactful courses I have done -- for the students and for me as an educator and scholar -- have been in-depth, small discussion format courses and field courses. Those can be life-changing for students, lead to grad student recruitment, and inspire research.
3/
Unlikely:
* Bioengineered, released by accident
1/5
Plausible:
* Natural virus collected from bats and brought to the lab for study, escaped by accident
Very plausible:
* Zoonotic origin
Both of the the plausible scenarios above should inspire thought and action to reduce future risk, imho.
2/5
But, as I've said, I am not following this closely and I'm far more concerned about all the evolution that has occurred since SARS-CoV-2 started spreading in humans.
It just seems like the debate is a mess, and the claims are way too strong both ways.
3/5
We don't know enough about the strength and duration of immunity conferred by infection in kids, especially relative to risk. Vaccines seem to work pretty well in children (vs. severe acute illness at least), but is that long-term? How much does it wane and how quickly?
2/
What is the significance of the fact that children seem to exhibit a much lower adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection than adults? Remember, minimizers said this was good because children clear the virus effectively. It's not obvious how one can have it both ways.
3/