What happens when a kid in your kid's class tests positive for Covid? A🧵from Singapore on how to keep kids safe while keeping them in school... As a baseline, children in Singapore are in school full time in class. There are some curbs in effect -- classes may not mix at recess for example.

Masks are required for kids, there's wide compliance, and everyone just kinda goes along with it because it's the rules.

Lemme tell you about my parental leave story:

For my first daughter, I was at a place with zero paternity leave. So I fought to get it. I negotiated the creation of our paternity leave policy and then was the first person to take it.

https://twitter.com/business/status/1453541551498485765

I got two weeks of paid paternity leave (in 2011) for my first daughter. I'd asked for four weeks, but we settled at two. It was inventing a policy out of literally nothing, so I was happy to take that.

My second paternity leave (2012) was worse. One week.

Singapore PM Lee Hsieng Loong tells the country that Delta means Covid-Zero is impossible, heralds a "new situation" backed by a world-leading 80% vaxx rate & says the country must now "change gears" toward a new normal. This transformation, if it works, is going to raise questions for Covid-Zero economies like Mainland China, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia, as to how long they can stay that way.

To be clear: LHL is making the case not that Covid-Zero is good or bad, but *impossible*

For those waking up in the U.S. -- this must-read attempts to frame a simple question: why the U.S. is opening up with higher cases while Covid-Zero countries in Asia are locking down with less.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/… "Covid-Zero" is a term I and others use here in Asia to basically describe the goal in pandemic management of getting new daily cases down to zero.

Not near zero, ACTUALLY to zero.

Think: Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia.

I think everyone who interacted with Walter Mondale has their own Mondale story, so here's mine...

https://twitter.com/StarTribune/status/1384309411326300160

I was a little ways into my gig at @MinnPost, which I both loved and also was desperately trying not to fk up for many reasons, not least of which I had been laid off from my last job in a cost cut. So very much, as a young reporter still kinda new to DC, this was make or break.

You're all missing the point of this Super League thing. It's about parachutes, and how the maths of the Champions League doesn't work.

a short thread England gets 4 spots every year in the Champions League. There are 6 clubs that expect Champions League football and budget accordingly.

The math doesn't work.

🚨Seeing some big vaccination warning signs outside the U.S. and U.K. -- a short thread: Asia: Several places pulling back on AstraZeneca:
🇭🇰 Hong Kong: Won't take delivery
🇰🇷 South Korea: Restricting use to ages 30-60
🇦🇺 Australia: Warns against using for those under 50

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Statement from the U.S. Capitol Police:

"At approximately 9:30 p.m. this evening (January 7, 2021), United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty." "Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters.  He returned to his division office and collapsed.  He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries."

How do you tell the children about today? Here's part of the note I sent to my kids' school & teachers here in Singapore (a short thread) "I'm sure you will have heard by now about the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol. It's outrageous and disturbing for many reasons. For our family particularly, it's also an area where as you know I used to work and where many of our close friends still do."

Let’s preview the next few hours worth of vote counting, as America starts to hear the alarm clocks dinging, rubs its eyes and checks its phone (hi y’all!).

(short thread)
bloomberg.com/news/live-blog… via @business Biden leads in enough states to equal 253 electoral votes across all tallies, 264 if you count Arizona like AP and Fox do. You need 270 to win. Biden has far more pathways to 270.

Dear America:

You're probably seeing some images from other places in the world, like that pool party in Wuhan, or diners in Taipei and Singapore, or folks just chilling in Hong Kong or South Korea. There's a reason for that.

(a short thread) I realize it must be jarring to see pool parties in China. Or full rugby matches in New Zealand. Or baseball with crowds.

But like, all of that is an earned reward. Folks in Asia put in the work & knocked back the virus.

America hasn't done the same.

Folks, I sat on a municipal riot review commission and co wrote a book length report on optimal police responses. It was set up with a focus on sports riots, but the lessons are broadly applicable.

A short thread on tear gas and less lethal munitions informed by that: Tear gas vs pepper spray vs pepper balls is semantics within the group of less-lethal chemical munitions.

The public uses the words "tear gas" to cover most chemical dispersal agents in the same way your mom might ask you to get a Kleenex when she wants a tissue.

The West is mistaking something big on Singapore's response to Coronavirus.

Schools are open here and have been the last two months. There is a lot of telework, but things are generally still open.

Difference incl. widespread testing, paid leave, 14 day timeouts if exposed. This has been our reality for two solid months. Temperature screenings at most major buildings.

As of at least earlier this week, this was not a reality in America.

I don't think people appreciate that the coronavirus economic hit isn't going to be solvable the same way most recent crises have been absorbed or handled.

A short thread... Folks are very used to dealing with liquidity issues, or supply issues. This isn't that.

This is a crash in *demand*

The greatest threat to a free press in the U.S. is the business model itself. And press freedom organizations, which are generally geared up for other fights, need to refocus.

a short thread... This is the thing spurring this thread. It's staggering in scope to hear about it all at once:

"The Plain Dealer had a unionized staff of 340 journalists two decades ago. That soon will be reduced to 33."
s.cleveland.com/OvcsjpU