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We're getting tired of people saying there is "scientific consensus" that schools should be open right now, when that is not true. Here is a compilation of epidemiologists, physicians and other scientists and public health experts who say schools should be closed now.
1. Epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding from the Federation of American Scientists. https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1345390983597481984
2. Epidemiologist Dr. Zoë Hyde from the University of Western Australia. https://twitter.com/DrZoeHyde/status/1345308799662321664
3. Epidemiologist Dr. Ellie Murray of the Boston University School of Public Health. https://twitter.com/EpiEllie/status/1344334881074118658
4. Epidemiologist Justin Feldman of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University https://twitter.com/jfeldman_epi/status/1344783104951676928
5. Epidemiologist Dr. Eli Perencevich of the University of Iowa Department of Internal Medicine. https://twitter.com/eliowa/status/1344356405701128193
6. Epidemiologist Dr. Nisreen Alwan of the University of Southampton (UK). (note: this is specifically in reference to the situation in the UK, which doesn't even require masks in schools) https://twitter.com/Dr2NisreenAlwan/status/1344651313393639424
7. Epidemiologist Dr. Theresa Chapple. https://twitter.com/Theresa_Chapple/status/1339825192768581634
8. Epidemiologist Rachel Hoopsick from the University of Buffalo. https://twitter.com/Rachel_Hoopsick/status/1330248392472203265
9. Infectious Diseases ED Dr. Noor Bari (New South Wales, Australia) https://twitter.com/NjbBari3/status/1345352238152122368
10. Scientist Rebekah Jones. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-12-02/shut-them-down-why-schools-might-not-be-safe-during-covid-19 https://twitter.com/GeoRebekah/status/1341557835981795329
11. Dr. Leana Wen of GW Public Health and former Baltimore Health Commissioner. https://twitter.com/DrLeanaWen/status/1331338684621262852
Note: I don't want to misrepresent any of these people's views as they aren't saying all schools should be closed under all circumstances. But most are saying community spread is too high and there currently aren't enough proper mitigation efforts in the schools.
Also, their opinions are their own and do not represent the organizations they work for.
This is not a complete list, but we will keep adding to it over the coming days and weeks. We have tons more but have to find the Tweets and links! If you have more to add to this list, please send them my way. h/t: @BernieDogs4 & @e_dantonio
Many aren't outright calling for schools to close but are are challenging the narrative that transmission isn't happening in schools.
12. Microbiologist Michael Wagner
@MichiWagner4 of the University of Vienna did a study that found children and teens were just as likely to be infected as teachers. https://twitter.com/DrZoeHyde/status/1340301418360520705
@MichiWagner4 of the University of Vienna did a study that found children and teens were just as likely to be infected as teachers. https://twitter.com/DrZoeHyde/status/1340301418360520705
13. Epidemiologist Dominique Heinke of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. https://twitter.com/Epi_D_Nique/status/1337551122005946369
14. Epidemiologist Diego Bassani of the University of Toronto Medicine. https://twitter.com/DGBassani/status/1338161349906599936
15. Infectious Disease Scientist Alessandro Rossi at Utah Public Health Lab. https://twitter.com/UomoPena/status/1345052225626808320
16. Virologist Paul Bieniasz of the Rockerfeller University noted that if he had a nefarious nature and wanted to render the vaccines ineffective one of the things he would do is keep schools open. https://twitter.com/PaulBieniasz/status/1345195420033691648
17. Infectious disease epidemiologist Christophe Fraser of the University of Oxford. https://twitter.com/ChristoPhraser/status/1345829431022153730
18. Academic Clinical Fellow Ana-Catarina Pinho-Gomes of The George Institute for Global Health (UK). https://twitter.com/Ana_Cat_PG/status/1344937739154817024
We're still adding to this list, but the next time you're doing a story about COVID and schools, please don't say experts say schools are safe. Consider talking to one of these experts to get the full story. @CaitlynnPeetz14 @PerryStein @laurameckler @DonnaStGeorge @elizashapiro
Just in case it wasn't clear, the last group of names hasn't taken a position on school openings (at least that I'm aware of), but admits to transmission in schools.
19. Epidemiology professor Justin Lessler & infectious diseases epidemiologist Kate Grabowski @KateGrabowski, both of Johns Hopkins, said that schools contribute to transmission (though they do argue they should be open with "effective mitigation"). https://twitter.com/JustinLessler/status/1346105901497921537
20. Epidemiologist Deepti Gurdasani of Queen Mary University of London. https://twitter.com/dgurdasani1/status/1345165055550173185
21. Virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen of the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security. https://twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1319679665506709506
22. Epidemiologist David Fisman of the University of Toronto. https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1346056640643162112
23. Pediatric Infectious Diseases physician Nisha Thampi of the University of Ottawa. https://twitter.com/NishaOttawa/status/1346162596722966528
24. Infectious disease epidemiologist Amy Greer of the University of Guelph (Ontario). https://twitter.com/AmyGreerKalisz/status/1345910671087697921
25. Zero COVID Alliance https://twitter.com/ZeroCovAlliance/status/1346076288780558338
26. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) in the UK said that keeping schools open in January would make it impossible to keep the R number below 1. School buildings in England and Scotland closed this week.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948617/s0998-tfc-update-to-4-november-2020-paper-on-children-schools-transmission.pdf
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948617/s0998-tfc-update-to-4-november-2020-paper-on-children-schools-transmission.pdf
27. Independent SAGE (a different group) in the UK also recommended closing schools. https://twitter.com/IndependentSage/status/1344202329994784768
Side note: What is going on in the UK is relevant to the US as the new variant is spreading here and some experts predict the US will be where they are in a few weeks. The explosive exponential growth in the UK is extremely concerning.
