Time for some thoughts on schools given the revised SickKids document and the fact that ON decided to leave most schools closed. ON is not the only jurisdiction to do so, but important to note that many jurisdictions would not have done so -even with higher incidence rates.

As outlined in the tweet by @NishaOttawa yesterday, the situation is complex, and not a simple right or wrong https://t.co/DO0v3j9wzr. And no one needs to list all the potential risks and downsides of prolonged school closures.
On the other hand: while school closures do not directly protect our most vulnerable in long-term care at all, one cannot deny that any factor potentially increasing community transmission may have an indirect effect on the risk to these institutions, and on healthcare.
The question is: to what extend do schools contribute to transmission, and how to balance this against the risk of prolonged school closures. The leaked data from yesterday shows a mixed picture -schools are neither unicorns (ie COVID free) nor infernos. https://t.co/m74rtKp6qZ
Assuming this data is largely correct -while waiting for an official publication of the data, it shows first and foremost the known high case numbers at Thorncliff, while other schools had been doing very well -are safe- reiterating the impact of socioeconomics on the COVID risk.
Who is affected most by closed schools? Likely not the affluent folks with well-paid jobs that can mostly work from home. Maybe inconvenient, but able to support and supervise their children in learning virtually, or homeschooling, help by private teachers/tutors, learning pods.
Mostly affected by schools closures are kids of those that have underpaid jobs, have less resources for their kids, that require them to go work in crowded settings, and have as such also the highest risk to contract COVID -at work, at home, and possibly school (ex. Thorncliff).
In summary, prolonged school closures will further harm equity, will harm those that are already mostly affected by COVID. Structural inequities are playing into this, lockdowns and school closures will not solve this problem, paid sick days would. https://t.co/90LcGbZ8el
Solution for this complex problem? Do EVERYTHING to make schools as safe as reasonably possible, and open schools throughout the province ASAP. https://t.co/T1ubqDsOoJ
Having schools shut because of lack of surveillance testing , "inability" to offer smaller class sizes etc. is the easy way out. An arbitrary cut-off such as "it is safe <40/100k/week in a PHU" is inappropriate: we all know that within a PHU, there are huge discrepancies in COVID
Needless to say: the last time that we had been below 40/100k/week as a province was beginning of October. Has the government decided now that school had been unsafe and an inferno ever since? While it is not a unicorn environment, we can agree that it is not an inferno either.
Instead of focusing on keeping schools shut as long as it can justified with some arbitrary threshold, focus on re-opening ASAP with appropriate measures in place. We are in a different spot in terms of testing capacity than in November, we have rapid testing, simply use it!
The younger the kids are, the less virtual school is working out for them. If unable to get JK-Grade 8 back in class in smaller classes, start off with JK-Grade 5, but not only once below a overtly conservative magic <40 threshold, invest into schools and open up.
I supported extended school breaks despite being pro-opening school: I value schools very highly as one of the most important public goods for the future of our society, but epi and risk from Holiday gatherings prevailed in my mind over the last few weeks.
But now is the time for action, make schools as safe as possible rather than simply moving the goalpost to a lower and lower arbitrary threshold for re-opening school. Currently, we are on track to make the same mistake as last year, keeping schools closed for far too long.

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OK I am going to be tackling this as surveillance/open source intel gathering exercise, because that is my background. I blew away 3 years of my life doing site acquisition/reconnaissance for a certain industry that shall remain unnamed and believe there is significant carryover.


This is NOT going to be zillow "here is how to google school districts and find walmart" we are not concerned with this malarkey, we are homeschooling and planting victory gardens and having gigantic happy families.

With that said, for my frog and frog-adjacent bros and sisters:

CHOICE SITES:

Zillow is obvious one, but there are many good sites like Billy Land, Classic Country Land, Landwatch, etc. and many of these specialize in owner financing (more on that later.) Do NOT treat these as authoritative sources - trust plat maps and parcel viewers.

TARGET IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION:

Okay, everyone knows how to google "raw land in x state" but there are other resources out there, including state Departments of Natural Resources, foreclosure auctions, etc. Finding the land you like is the easy part. Let's do a case study.

I'm going to target using an "off-grid but not" algorithm. This is a good piece in my book - middle of nowhere but still trekkable to civilization.

Note: visible power, power/fiber pedestal, utility corridor, nearby commercial enterprise(s), and utility pole shadows visible.
You asked. So here are my thoughts on how osteopathic medical students should respond to the NBOME.

(thread)


Look, even before the Step 2 CS cancellation, my DMs and email were flooded with messages from osteopathic medical students who are fed up with the NBOME.

There is *real* anger toward this organization. Honestly, more than I even heard about from MD students and the NBME.

The question is, will that sentiment translate into action?

Amorphous anger on social media is easy to ignore. But if that anger gets channeled into organized efforts to facilitate change, then improvements are possible.

This much should be clear: begging the NBOME to reconsider their Level 2-PE exam is a waste of your time.

Best case scenario, you’ll get another “town hall” meeting, a handful of platitudes, and some thoughtful beard stroking before being told that they’re keeping the exam.

Instead of complaining to the NBOME, here are a few things that are more likely to bring about real change.

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I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹

I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):


The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹


Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹


References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹