We've been falsely told 'schools are safe', 'don't drive community transmission', & teachers don't have a higher risk of infection repeatedly by govt & their advisors- to justify some of the most negligent policies in history. 🧵
Questions have to be asked about the evidence Jenny Harries gave to the Education Committee today about the risk to teachers.
— Adam Hamdy (@adamhamdy) January 19, 2021
Was she aware of this data?
If not, why wasn\u2019t she properly briefed?#COVID19 #schools https://t.co/4wa1PyAJld pic.twitter.com/eqFjaA1zYC
Why?
https://t.co/EcKP8Vq2yo
.@educationgovuk data released show on average the rate of Covid-19 infection is 1.9 times higher amongst primary & secondary teachers than the general population, & 2 times higher for special school teachers.
— National Education Union (@NEUnion) January 19, 2021
Read our full commenthttps://t.co/vNl0zUEiOi#MakeSchoolsSafe pic.twitter.com/FTHdKYZA8a
https://t.co/Bwu6QXm6Q1
I've been a hearing a lot about how children are more infectious *now* & contribute to transmission because of the B117 variant, but didn't before. This is a myth. Children & schools have always played an important role in transmission. Time to lay this to rest. Thread.
— Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) January 5, 2021
https://t.co/nFrjbuTiPC
More from Deepti Gurdasani
U.K. needs to confront
— Esther McVey (@EstherMcVey1) January 2, 2021
\u2018The challenge that faces us is to decide - are we going to try to pursue the elimination of Covid-19 regardless of the costs or decide on a tolerable level of deaths (like we do with the flu) in order to return to a normal life?\u2019
https://t.co/9hWbHIPJUq
Had we adopted an elimination strategy early on, rather than one of tolerating a certain level of infection, we wouldn't be here now. The reason we're here is because the govt never committed to elimination.
We eased lockdown in May when infection levels were much higher than when other countries in Europe did this. The govt was warned about this, but did this to 'help the economy'. Not only did this lead us into the 2nd wave, the need for further lockdowns harmed the economy further
It's very clear from global evidence that we cannot 'tolerate a level of community transmission' and maintain 'R at or just below 1', which has been our governments policy for a long time. This isn't sustainable & very rapidly gets out of control, leading to exponential rises
Coupled with late action to contain these surges, not only does this lead to many more deaths, and much more morbidity with Long COVID, it also creates a fertile ground for viral mutations to accumulate with a greater risk of adaptation, which is exactly what happened in the UK
I've heard a lot of scientists claim these three - including most recently the chief advisor to the CDC, where the claim that most transmission doesn't happen within the walls of schools. There is strong evidence to rebut this claim. Let's look at
The science shows us that most disease transmission does not happen in the walls of the school, but it comes in from the community. So, CDC is advocating to get our K-5 students back in school at least in a hybrid mode with universal mask wearing and 6 ft of distancing. https://t.co/dfvJ2nl2s4
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) February 14, 2021
Let's look at the trends of infection in different age groups in England first- as reported by the ONS. Being a random survey of infection in the community, this doesn't suffer from the biases of symptom-based testing, particularly important in children who are often asymptomatic
A few things to note:
1. The infection rates among primary & secondary school children closely follow school openings, closures & levels of attendance. E.g. We see a dip in infections following Oct half-term, followed by a rise after school reopening.

We see steep drops in both primary & secondary school groups after end of term (18th December), but these drops plateau out in primary school children, where attendance has been >20% after re-opening in January (by contrast with 2ndary schools where this is ~5%).
More from Education
The topic was “LongCovid, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis & More”.
I quote from memory.
1/n
#MECFS #LongCovid
Have you registered for IMHA's next webinar on Long-COVID? Guest speaker Professor Trisha Greenhalgh.
— CIHR-IMHA Community (@CIHR_IMHA) January 12, 2021
When? Tomorrow: *Jan 13th.* 12pm ET
A few spots are left, but going fast!
Registration required: https://t.co/T4PbWNA35Y@KarimKhan_IMHA @CIHR_IRSC @trishgreenhalgh pic.twitter.com/xlWKi4QKF1
The bulk of Prof @Trishgreenhalgh’s presentation was on the importance of recognising LongCovid patient’s symptoms, and pathways for patients which recognised their condition as real. So far so good.
She was asked about “Post Exertional Malaise”... 2/n
PEM has been reported by many patients, and is the hallmark symptom of ME/CFS, leading many to query whether LongCovid and ME/CFS are similar or have overlapping mechanisms.
@Trishgreenhalgh acknowledged the new @NiceComms advice for LongCovid was planned to complement... 3/n
the ME/CFS guidelines, acknowledging some similarities.
Then it all went wrong.
@TrishGreenhalgh noted the changes to the @NiceComms guidance for ME/CFS, removing support for Graded Exercise Therapy / Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. She noted there is a big debate about this. 4/n
That is correct: The BMJ published Prof Lynne Turner Stokes’ column criticising the change (Prof Turner-Stokes is a key proponent of GET/CBT, and I suspect is known to Prof @TrishGreenhalgh).
https://t.co/0enH8TFPoe
However Prof Greenhalgh then went off-piste.
5/n
A #prodmgmt thread 👇
https://t.co/Yv854Sd3P3
Sum up Product Management in 4 words or less. \U0001f609
— Product School (@productschool) April 10, 2020
https://t.co/sXaMH1bZ9m
\u201cWithout data, you\u2019re just another person with an opinion.\u201d
— Product School (@productschool) July 22, 2020
-W. Edwards Deming
https://t.co/5X7bOTsS7m
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) or MLP (Minimum Lovable Product)? \u2764\ufe0f
— Product School (@productschool) July 6, 2020
https://t.co/w1y6LTtPS2
UI/UX are not just add-ons for a product. They\u2019re critical elements that need care, research, and a Product Manager\u2019s full attention.
— Product School (@productschool) July 12, 2020