Jeff GilchristJul 29, 2023

Over only a 6 week period in 2022 during a period of sustained #respiratory #viral activity in #Ottawa, Canada kids being absent was reduced enough to gain almost 2,000 #school days with masking policies. This was with mostly low quality #masks, imagine how much better if everyone had proper #N95 or better.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2807639

H/T @michael_hoerger

School-Based Mandatory Masking Policies and Absenteeism in Ottawa, Canada

This cohort study assesses the association between school-based mandatory masking policies and educational disruption in Ottawa, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Show threadCha Knowlton

@jeffgilchrist Yet the pollitical response is to pressure parents to send kids to school sick to improve attendance (per LAUSD- Los Angeles school district).

Head of LAUSD claims its to help kids ("psychological harms" & learning continuity). But it's really because LAUSD will gain $300 million if they boost attendance up from 90% to 95%.

If it was for kids' welfare, LAUSD would be ⬆️ ventilation, universal masking indoors, CO2 monitors, & encourage stay at home when sick & test.

#Covid

Aug 16, 2023 at 8:09pmWeb
Show threadJeff GilchristAug 19, 2023
@Cha_Knewlton Yes, this is an interesting article "Treating kids as invulnerable is treating them as disposable" ( https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-treating-kids-as-invulnerable-is-treating-them-as-disposable/wcm/cdd67dd3-0eda-42a5-a1c5-43909e016ac6/amp/ ).
| Calgary Herald

Parents often believe in a societal fiction that children will just be OK and will live healthy lives. This can help cope with the anxieties of raising children.

Calgary Herald
Show threadCha KnowltonAug 20, 2023
@jeffgilchrist Yes- this article gets it exactly right & one of the few articles that is completely honest about the risks most are sleepwalking into- with their kids as unwitting victims of our societal hierarchies/economic priorities.
Recall reading an HIV researcher recently tweeted that now feels a whole lot like early days of AIDS- he walked around a lot feeling like either he was crazy or everyone else was- because of the mass denial re the clear & present danger. Insane & horrifying
Show threadCha KnowltonAug 20, 2023
@jeffgilchrist I feel that weird crazy-making discontinuity of the mass denial as well. As a psychologist, I suppose it could be "interesting" but it just keeps on & societal denial even worse. So it's kind of agonizing & dystopian & hard to know how to help change. Like changing the course of a large ship- the Titanic comes to mind . . Good to be able to talk with people who actually see the reality of Covid systemic & chronic dangers.