Merely citing hospitalizations, see original tweet, can be misleading

In the last 8 months severe Covid has decoupled from Covid hospital numbers. The portion of Covid admins in ICU are *half* of what they were earlier in pandemic

And huge difference for >70 vs rest of pop

/1

https://twitter.com/rdmorris/status/1609591440266625027

We've known for a long time that a significant portion of Covid hospitalizations are incidental. I reported on this twice. First, for pediatric numbers, in May 2021

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nymag.com/intelligencer/…

1. THREAD:

THE TWITTER FILES: HOW TWITTER RIGGED THE COVID DEBATE

– By censoring info that was true but inconvenient to U.S. govt. policy
– By discrediting doctors and other experts who disagreed
– By suppressing ordinary users, including some sharing the CDC’s *own data* 2. So far the Twitter Files have focused on evidence of Twitter’s secret blacklists; how the company functioned as a kind of subsidiary of the FBI; and how execs rewrote the platform’s rules to accommodate their own political desires.

THREAD

UK Report on masks in schools

*75% of teachers said masks made communicating harder for special needs kids
*Teachers said masks made teaching languages harder
*Masks muffled sound, making communication hard for teachers and kids hard of hearing
/1
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl… *Masks were an issue with kids who needed to lip read (clear masks did not resolve issue)
*Teachers struggled to pick up non verbal cues from masked autistic children
*Masks enabled quieter pupils to not participate as much

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The NAEP scores and NYT article are misleading a lot of people to conclude remote school didn't correlate with lower scores. That's bc state data are too crude

Multiple analyses comparing districts show an overt correlation btwn time out of school and learning loss

Thread: /1

https://twitter.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1584642344498114560

This study by @vkoganpolisci in Ohio found "Districts with fully remote instruction experienced test scores declines up to three times greater than districts that had in-person instruction"

glenn.osu.edu/how-covid-19-p…

Short 🧵

This thread purporting that school closures/remote learning was not correlated with learning loss unsurprisingly has gotten a lot of traction. Yet it likely suffers from some major flaws and limitations, calling its conclusion into question

/1

https://twitter.com/StephTaitWrites/status/1565820444846227456

Primarily, state-level data, which the author relies on, is overly crude. At the local and district level, numerous, more rigorous analyses have found an overt correlation between time out of school and learning loss

THREAD

I corresponded with the authors of the Duke study behind this opinion piece weeks ago... nytimes.com/2021/08/10/opi… A topline finding of the Duke/ABC Science Collaborative report, and what they claim here, is that masks in schools help lower transmission. Except all their schools were under a mask mandate. I asked the authors how they could make a claim on masks when there was no control ...

💥🔥🧨 I am beyond excited to announce that I will be writing AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION, a book for @mitpress, about the schools debacle in America during the pandemic. The book, in essence, will be a case study of how and why bad decisions are made

THREAD
1/12 I first covered the evidence on children and schools on May 11, 2020, which, contra claims by some politicians and journalists, was highly suggestive even then (after all, it was convincing enough for Europe)

2/12
wired.com/story/the-case…

THREAD

The media continues to conflate expertise in one realm of medicine with authority to opine on matters of ethics and policy

This survey may appear positive for schools. It's not.

/1 Respondents "largely" agreed it's safe for full time school. Yet 3/4 of them said students should be 6 ft from each other "some or all of the time"

People!:
6 ft --> no full time school

These experts appear to not understand the conflict in their views

Moreover... /2

THREAD
My daughter is quarantined for 10 days bc she had a class with a teacher on Friday who tested positive

*All students and teacher were in masks
*Windows were wide open
*All were 6+ feet apart bc only 7 kids in class
*HVAC audited in summer; updated MERV filters

/1 My daughter wears her winter coat in school because of the open windows.

They eat lunch outside every day -- in rain storms; when it's 30 degrees

She can only attend 2 days per week bc of hybrid model

But wait, there's more!...
/2

Three astonishing admissions yesterday by head of @AFTunion, Randi Weingarten, who for past 8 months has pushed harder than anyone for remote learning:

#1: "Remote education for most kids does not work"

Experts (and kids) said this back in April

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#2: Hybrid learning is a failed model for kids, and is untenable for teachers

This also has also been known for many months

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https://twitter.com/rweingarten/status/1333111349199712257?s=20

NYT editorial page coming out hard for schools to remain open

👉At this point (some blue state) politicians are way behind both the MSM and the scientific community. Not sure what it will take to move the needle /1 @JAMA_current hosted a debate on the Great Barrington Declaration between @mlipsitch and Jay Bhattacharya.

There was one thing both guests and the host agreed upon:

Keep Schools Open



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MAJOR THREAD: This Israel article is going to alter the debate about schools. It has a lot of useful information, but its framing, and its title (which is the only thing many will read) distorts reality FIRST: Israel opened nearly EVERYTHING around the same time. Singling schools out is like seeing a packed highway and pointing to one car and saying "This traffic is all their fault!"

https://twitter.com/davidzweig/status/1289630162665893888?s=20