Reading this article (in which I'm quoted near the end), I realized why I have such a strong visceral reaction to some of the negative coverage of @ProfEmilyOster's work on #COVID19 and schools...https://t.co/lE0qHDIJ8v 1/

..The treatment of @ProfEmilyOster reminds of 2016 press coverage of @HillaryClinton! An outsized focus on that woman's flaws had big long-term consequences.(I'm not a media studies or communications person, so I may be totally off, but I swear there's a PhD thesis in here! 2/

On to my promised tweets on #epitwitter data about #SARSCoV2/#COVID19 among children and particularly in school settings. It's less comprehensive than I hoped, but I'm trying not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good... 3/

First, I disagree with the premise of many articles that we don't know enough to start making some conclusions about schools and risk. In particular, @DFTBubbles updates its amazing comprehensive literature syntheses on a regular basis 4/

The studies with the strongest scientific designs are consistent in a few respects: young kids (<10 yo) seem less likely than older children & adults to get & transmit #SARSCoV2 even in settings of close contact like households. It's not zero risk, but much less than adults 5/

@Justfirenews Not quite. I’m arguing that they did the best that they legally could when constrained by bad policy. These are hard ethical calls. Do you continue working for an org that you think is heading in the wrong direction, or do you try to do your best from inside?

I think about this a lot. For instance, my university brought back uni students for in-person learning last fall w no surveillance testing or modified housing. I thought that was a reckless decision. But I didn’t quit my job...

Partially bc the balance of the work my colleagues were doing locally, nationally, & globally was so important and I could support that in a small way. Also income and longterm professional goals that I think will help public health beyond covid.

I think my position is justified. I think the work of many of my applied public health colleagues has been heroic and harm-reducing.

But I recognize that there are always ethical minefields. For instance, finders. My research is mostly supported by the federal government. I think it’s ethical to use that money for my work. But what about Department of Defense? They also...