As of July 27, the highest rate of covid in U.S. emergency rooms was found among children 11 and younger, narrowly surpassing the incidence in adults 75 and older.

Summer covid surge hits at least 84 countries and continues to climb

 https://wapo.st/4chjnN5

Does Your Kid's Classroom Need An Air Purifier? Here's How You Can Make One Yourself

 On A Back-To-School Supply List: Materials For DIY Air Purifiers : Back To School: Live Updates : NPR

Breaking: MCPS Missing Drivers for *** 46 Bus Routes Today ***. #COVIDisAirborne

Bus Routes, Bell Times, and Bus Depots by School: Department of Transportation - Montgomery County Public Schools (montgomeryschoolsmd.org)

How to build Corsi-Rosenthal Box to protect against COVID for under $100 #COVIDisAirborne

Life in many places has largely returned to a pre-pandemic normal. People are tired of masking and remaining socially distant, even though contagious COVID-19 variants show no signs of going away anytime soon.

With attitudes toward COVID-19 becoming increasingly lackadaisical, public health experts are touting ventilation as a less-intrusive way to stop tiny particles carrying the virus from traveling through the air. But uptake of better ventilation practices — which can range from expensive to unrealistic — has been slow.

Enter the Corsi-Rosenthal Box, a do-it-yourself air filtration system that has taken the internet by storm. Each box typically costs under $100 to make and is more effective than other, pricier options like High Efficiency Particulate Air filters.

The simple contraption consists of a box fan, four MERV13 furnace filters that can be purchased online or in store, some cardboard and strips of tape. It’s the brainchild of air quality researcher Richard Corsi, dean of engineering at the University of California, Davis, and Jim Rosenthal, CEO of Texas-based company Tex-Air Filters...

How to build Corsi-Rosenthal Box to protect against COVID for under $100 | The Seattle Times

Biden Brings His Own Ventilation to @mcps High School #COVIDisAirborne #CO2

On Thursday, August 26, 2022, President Joe Biden held a rally in the gym of Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville.  Montgomery County is currently in a period of HIGH COVID-19 Transmission with a Positivity Rate of 11.65%. What's a President to do with a potential super spreader event?  Why, bring his own ventilation, of course!  

Take a look at the air handling units that were added to the outside of the Richard Montgomery High School gym for President Biden's rally.

How do MCPS students that use this gym year round get the same type of ventilation upgrade for their use of this space?  

Here’s the other side of the wall. Look what they have to do to cool that Rocket air! 🚀 👊 pic.twitter.com/TIlaLxZeOt

— Jeremy Koenig 📚 (@KoenigRMHS) August 25, 2022

Meanwhile, MCPS parents continue to advocate for the Board of Education to acknowledge that #COVIDisAirborne.  The President of the United States gets it, why doesn't the Board of Education get it?  

**So in 2022, @mcps takes a hard pass on ventilation/air purification upgrades but leans in on "respiratory etiquette"**

So in 2022, @mcps takes a hard pass on ventilation/air purification upgrades but leans in on <checks notes> "respiratory etiquette" pic.twitter.com/9s7l2auyEa

— Lloyd Matthews (@Mlloyd_2010) August 25, 2022

MCPS Required Masks at July 30th Job Fair

 

mcps_md

Learn about available jobs at MCPS at a job fair being held from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 30 at @montgomerycollege's Rockville campus. Go to www.mcpscareers.org to see open positions.

6d

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgmdZIOMmw-/

@montgomerycoll invites you to join us today for the Elementary and Early Childhood Education Job Fair at the Rockville Campus from 10-12! The Job Fair is OPEN to COMMUNITY! @MCPS @MCEngage @MCEarlyEd @MCEdRising @TeacherEdMC pic.twitter.com/AF4G1qyVJk

— Dr. S Pruneda-Hernandez (@sprunedah) July 30, 2022

Don't breathe it in. #COVIDisAirborne

Don't breathe it in. #COVIDisAirborne pic.twitter.com/czmr4ki2dC

— The John Snow Project (@JohnSnowProject) July 10, 2022

BASC Session on Air Quality, Climate Variability, and COVID-19

As the global community has raced to understand the COVID-19 pandemic, questions have arisen about how the virus is carried in aerosols, exposure risk in indoor and outdoor environments, how the changes in seasons or climate conditions might affect transmission, and how exposure to air pollution might affect mortality from the virus. This webinar will feature recent atmospheric, climate, and epidemiological research that is contributing to our understanding of the virus transmission, as well as a discussion of how agencies across the federal government are building upon existing efforts to address linkages between environmental conditions and health to understand the pandemic...

https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/05-28-2020/basc-session-on-air-quality-climate-variability-and-covid-19

In-person schooling and associated COVID-19 risk in the United States over spring semester 2021

 

Abstract

Because of the importance of schools to childhood development, the relationship between in-person schooling and COVID-19 risk has been one of the most important questions of this pandemic. Previous work in the United States during winter 2020–2021 showed that in-person schooling carried some risk for household members and that mitigation measures reduced this risk. Schooling and the COVID-19 landscape changed radically over spring semester 2021. Here, we use data from a massive online survey to characterize changes in in-person schooling behavior and associated risks over that period. We find increases in in-person schooling and reductions in mitigations over time. In-person schooling is associated with increased reporting of COVID-19 outcomes even among vaccinated individuals (although the absolute risk among the vaccinated is greatly reduced). Vaccinated teachers working outside the home were less likely to report COVID-19–related outcomes than unvaccinated teachers working exclusively from home. Adequate mitigation measures appear to eliminate the excess risk associated with in-person schooling...

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm9128#.YnUUrhVQ5Rw.twitter

Better ventilation in schools could reduce covid risks and boost learning. Why aren’t we doing it? [Baltimore City]

Improving indoor air quality in schools can boost health and academic performance.

May 13, 2022

The first thing you notice walking the halls of Holabird Academy is the windows.

A grid above the entryway floods the main corridor with cool light, and classrooms boast nearly floor-to-ceiling views of the surrounding Baltimore neighborhood.

What you won’t notice — what anyone rarely notices in any building — is the air quality.

A state-of-the-art HVAC system hums on the top floor of this gleaming new elementary school, sucking in fresh air that’s run through filters capable of trapping air pollution. Before it reaches classrooms, the air is conditioned and passes through filters fine enough to catch virus-laden particles. Each classroom has a carbon dioxide detector that signals when fresh air is needed, delivering up to eight total air changes per hour...

https://www.grid.news/story/science/2022/05/13/better-ventilation-in-schools-could-reduce-covid-risks-and-boost-learning-why-arent-we-doing-it/

@kprather88 Slides & words from my @OSHA_DOL testimony on April 28, 2022. I really hope it helps as there is no excuse to not fully protect healthcare & essential workers from airborne transmission of this virus. All workers deserve full protection. #COVIDisAirborne

 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1522704911368028161.html

Affidavit: BOE President Wolff Swears COVID-19 Operations Advisory Team is NOT part of Board of Education Strategic Plan

Remember in September of 2021, when Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight Unveiled her Five-Point Plan for Further COVID Safety, Mitigation?  Remember that her "plan" included this:

What exactly happened to that COVID-19 operations advisory committee?  Who is on the committee? Have they met? Do they have recommendations?  

MCPS parents have asked those questions and the answer from Superintendent McKnight is that the answers are a secret. 

And to back up Superintendent McKnight's secrecy around the COVID-19 Operations Advisory Team, Board of Education Brenda Wolff has signed an affidavit that the Board of Education has nothing to do with the COVID-19 Operations Advisory Team.  

Nonetheless, Superintendent McKnight continues to use the COVID-19 Operations Advisory Team as a component of her discussions of the Board of Education's Strategic Plan.  

October 5, 2021 see page 13:  https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/C7JHTU46C420/$file/BOE%20Strategic%20Plan%20211005%20PPT.pdf

February 14, 2022 see Page 4:  

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/03.01%20Proposed%20Amends%20FY2023%20Rec%20Op%20Bdgt%20220214%20PPT%20AC.pdf

What does this mean? It means that the COVID-19 Operations Advisory Team is an imaginary group as far as teachers and parents are concerned.  The "team" can meet in private, does not post any publicly available minutes or reports, and any recommendations can be kept completely secret from the public.  No transparency, no accountability, means this "team" is effectively non-existent.  

That's the way Superintendent Monifa McKnight wants it.  Secrecy during a global pandemic is part of her Five Point Plan for COVID Mitigation and Safety. 

Montgomery County Public Schools by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

Don’t throw away that mask yet — COVID is airborne

Despite the lifting of mandates, I will be wearing my N95 for the foreseeable future, especially in crowded indoor spaces. I hope you will join me.

In November 2021, after a Christmas party in Oslo, Norway, approximately 70 per cent of the 111 interviewed guests were diagnosed with COVID-19. This and many other super-spreader events supported what some scientists had been saying since the start of the pandemic: COVID is airborne.

When an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks or simply breathes, they release saliva droplets of various sizes containing infectious particles. Droplets larger than 100 microns fall down in seconds, typically within a two-meter radius. Another person can then contract the infection either by allowing droplets to land on their mucous membranes or by transferring the virus from their hands to the mucous membranes after touching a contaminated surface. In the first year of the pandemic, the World Health Organization and other public health agencies focused on this sort of large-droplet transmission. Thus, their messaging emphasized sanitizing hands and surfaces, physical distancing, installing Plexiglas, wearing cloth masks and avoiding touching the face.

By mid-2021, however, mounting evidence showed that COVID-19 was primarily spreading through aerosol transmission, which means it can transmit through the air via suspended respiratory fluid droplets smaller than 100 microns. These aerosols are light enough to remain suspended for hours, and can travel more than six feet.

By December 2021, the WHO finally conceded that the COVID-19 virus is airborne. This meant that guidelines based on droplet transmission — such as standing six feet apart and wearing cloth masks — were inadequate infection prevention strategies. In spaces with poor ventilation and minimal air filtration, aerosols build up and persist over time, similar to cigarette smoke. They are then easily inhaled through gaps in face masks...

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/04/10/dont-throw-away-that-mask-yet-covid-is-airborne.html

TODAY: White House Virtual Event – “Let’s Clear the Air on COVID: An OSTP Discussion on Clean Indoor Air” Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 12:30 PM ET – 2:00 PM ET

 

MARCH 2022

White House Virtual Event – “Let’s Clear the Air on COVID: An OSTP Discussion on Clean Indoor Air”

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 12:30 PM ET – 2:00 PM ET

On Tuesday, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) will host a virtual event spotlighting the science behind improving indoor air quality to reduce COVID-19 transmission and produce better overall health outcomes – and how to engage Americans on the topic. This event continues OSTP’s work to advance science and technology that benefits all people. The Biden-Harris Administration identified improved indoor air quality as an important tool to fight the spread of airborne diseases in the American Pandemic Preparedness Plan last September. This month, the Environmental Protection Agency, in collaboration with other Federal departments and agencies, launched the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge and released a practical guide for building managers, contractors, homeowners, and business owners to create an action plan for cleaner indoor air. This event will encourage all people to increase their air awareness and take simple, but powerful, actions to improve indoor air quality.

Dr. Alondra Nelson, head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will host a public event on the science behind clean indoor air featuring public health experts, social scientists, and engineers.

Dr. Nelson will open the event with a fireside chat discussion with fellow social scientist and journalist Dr. Zeynep Tufekci (University of North Carolina and New York Times) on how ventilation is a critical part of preventing the spread of future variants and pandemics. Air quality experts Dr. Joseph Allen (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) and Dr. Linsey Marr (Virginia Tech) will discuss the science behind clean indoor air, and Kenneth Martinez (Integrated Bioscience and Built Environment Consortium) will discuss steps individuals can take to improve ventilation and filtration. Tracy Enger of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will highlight the history of the agency’s work to improve indoor air in schools, the work ahead, and available resources for improving ventilation in your home, office building, or business.

WHERE: The event will be livestreamed on ZoomGov. Please register for the event here.

CONTACT: Information by request at indoorair@ostp.eop.gov; to schedule interviews, please email press@ostp.eop.gov.

EVENT AGENDA:

12:30-12:35pm – Opening remarks by Dr. Alondra Nelson (Head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy)

12:35-1:00pm – Dr. Alondra Nelson hosts a fireside chat with Dr. Zeynep Tufekci (Associate Professor at University of North Carolina and New York Times columnist)

A discussion of the history of ventilation and public health, innovation and pandemic prevention, and the relationship between science and society  

1:00-1:30pm – The Basics of Why You Should Care About Indoor Air

• Dr. Linsey Marr (Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech)

• Dr. Joseph Allen (Associate Professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

Discussion will be facilitated by OSTP Senior Advisor for Biotechnology and Bioeconomy Dr. Georgia Lagoudas

1:30-1:40pm – How to Take Care of Indoor Air

• Kenneth Martinez (Chief Science Officer, Integrated Bioscience and Built Environment Consortium)

Discussion will be facilitated by OSTP Senior Policy Advisor for Biosecurity Dr. Stephanie Guerra.

1:40-1:58pm – EPA’s Work on Clean Indoor Air in Schools and Beyond

• Tracy Enger (IAQ Tools for Schools Team Leader/Program Analyst, Indoor Environments Division, US Environmental Protection Agency)

Discussion will be facilitated by OSTP Senior Policy Advisor for Public Engagement in Science Dr. Erica Kimmerling

1:58-2:00pm – Closing

https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/events-webinars/

The CDC’s new mask guidance guarantees we’ll be too slow for the next surge

 

The shift in focus away from case counts could lead to a delay in much-needed public health interventions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently revealed new guidelines for coronavirus control in the United States, increasing the thresholds of disease that trigger recommendations for mask-wearing. In the blink of an eye, the CDC pivoted from recommending that nearly everyone wear a mask to saying it was necessary for only about 30 percent of Americans.

The guidelines’ chief innovation is to combine case levels with hospitalization figures — those related to hospital admissions as well as occupancy levels of staffed beds — rather than using case numbers alone. Under the old guidelines, a case rate of 50 per 100,000 in a county was enough to trigger a recommendation that individuals mask indoors; now the case rate must be four times that for the recommendation to kick in. (At lowercase rates, high hospitalization numbers can also trigger masking recommendations.)..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/08/cdc-mask-guidance-mistake/

A🧵on new @CDCgov recommendations. Let's take a walk through their slide set. 1/

Gregg Gonsalves

A🧵on new @CDCgov recommendations. Let's take a walk through their slide set. 1/ 

So, we're an under-vaccinated and radically un-boosted country. But now @CDCgov says infection-induced immunity counts and we have broad access to vaccines, drugs and testing. 2/

So, the @CDCgov by over-selling our rates of vaccination. These maps tell a different story. 3/

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1497889516274606087.html

The 'Mask Nerd' of Minneapolis wants you to be safe [Aaron Collins tested the masks distributed by @mcps with mixed results]

Aaron Collins is standing in his bathroom, holding a white mask to his face while stretching its straps to the back of his head.

Here in the "lab" at his Minneapolis home, Collins is launching experiment No. 520 — the latest installment in his 18-month quest to help people use masks for better protection against COVID-19.

Just a few minutes earlier, Collins turned off a machine whirring like an air compressor that's perched at the edge of his bathroom sink. A clear tube leads from the mask he's wearing to a separate piece of scientific equipment sitting on the window sill.

Collins, 37, points excitedly to the screen on his laptop where a squiggly line has suddenly fallen like a rock.

"This is really a high-performing mask," he says on this mid-February afternoon, wearing a red-and-black checked shirt that's like many he wears on his YouTube channel...

https://www.startribune.com/the-mask-nerd-of-minneapolis-wants-you-to-be-safe/600150603/?refresh=true

NYC Event: #MaskingForAFriend

Join us! pic.twitter.com/MV5V4mOOfu

— PRESS NYC: Responsive Equitable and Safe Schools (@safeschoolsny) February 28, 2022

Petition: MCPS Needs to Keep Masking Requirements

MCPS BOARD OF EDUCATION

MCPS Board of Education will vote at their next meeting on March 8th to make masks optional in MCPS facilities. This action would needlessly put at risk the health of thousands of MCPS students and their family members who remain at high risk for severe illness and death from COVID-19. Furthermore, this action would force some parents to make an impossible choice, risking their child's educational progress with in-person learning or risking their health in an unsafe school.

To: MCPS Board of Education

From: [Your Name]

Please protect our most vulnerable MCPS students by keeping the current Mask Mandate in place.

According to Montgomery County Commission on People with Disabilities, 85,852 individuals with disabilities live in Montgomery County and MCPS currently educates 20,585 students with disabilities. We know that people with disabilities, especially those who are immunocompromised, have a high risk for severe illness and death from COVID-19. In addition, MCPS facilities have student populations who are still too young to receive a vaccine, including all of the 3,596 Pre-K students and not all students eligible have have had enough time to be fully vaccinated.

Removing the mask mandate would force some MCPS families to make the impossible choice of risking the academic progress of their student or knowingly sending them into a high health risk environment. Removing the mask mandate would violate these students' rights to a free and appropriate education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Keeping masks mandatory is the right thing to do to keep students and our community safe.

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/mcps-needs-to-keep-masking-requirements?source=ptx&fbclid=IwAR39-8JhSkQISAbQf01Q-cvnTAWLySTrBa2P8vNZ-lWw_aR4EWJ9-goZ2Fk

@Theresa_Chapple The CDC wants you to remain masked during a 2-hour flight where we can document the number of air exchanges per minute, but not at your job or your child's school building where we may or may not have data on ventilation. Why is that?

The CDC wants you to remain masked during a 2-hour flight where we can document the number of air exchanges per minute, but not at your job or your child's school building where we may or may not have data on ventilation.
Why is that?

— Dr. Theresa Chapple (@Theresa_Chapple) March 1, 2022