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So, there is something strange going on in America, I keep getting asked "can we reopen schools," "what's going to happen with universities, my son is starting at..." No one asks WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO RE-OPEN THEM. 1/
Americans are looking for some sort of permission slip from scientists to get out of doing the work we need to do RIGHT NOW to ever have any chance of re-opening safely (and I fear it's too late for the fall). 2/
PARENTS, STUDENTS. Do you want to go back to school? Well, guess who holds the key to whether you can or not? Your governor and President. UNLESS WE GET #SARSCoV2 under control there is NO MAGIC WAY to return to our normal lives safely. 3/
So, PARENTS, STUDENTS: you need to be vocal, VERY vocal w/ our political leaders that they have to RESET the American response to #COVID19. Many places around the world have succeeded in controlling their epidemics and are now having rational conversations about schools, unis /4
YOU WANT TO KNOW WHEN IT WILL BE SAFE TO REOPEN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES? Not when your local epidemic curve looks like this. 5/
It's not rocket science. If your house is on fire, you DO NOT GO BACK IN THE HOUSE. 6/
So. 1. Get your local epidemic under control. 2. Then ensure that schools and universities can test everyone 2x a week at least. 3. Make sure they can trace and isolate anyone infected and their close contacts. 4. Make sure everyone has adequate PPE... 7/ https://www.wired.com/story/colleges-prepare-to-test-thousands-of-students-for-covid-19/
5. Make sure social distancing can take place anywhere people are going to be together (classrooms, cafeterias, bathrooms). 6. Make sure surfaces are cleaned frequently, before/after activities. 8/
Sorry to be harsh. I know parents are struggling w/ kids at home, students want to go back to school. But we've been let down by our political leaders. The answer isn't to try to get epidemiologists to cry uncle, give up on your safety and say, sure, sure, it will all be fine. 9/
So, let's get to work. People are dying, getting infected in droves. See this chart? Things are WORSE than EVER. Sorry to be the skunk at the garden party, but if we thought March/April were bad.../10
Our leaders have failed us. So we need to ACT now. "I'm not political" is not an answer. It simply means you want others to do the fighting for you. 11/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-response-failure-leadership.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
We cannot wait for January 2021 to shift course. Our lives depend on disruption now. Indeed, our survival hinges on making it impossible for our leaders to ignore us: We have to shift the political terrain ourselves. We have to be the earthquake. end/ https://www.thenation.com/article/society/protest-survive-aids-coronavirus/
