Thread — I’m very happy and relieved that my elderly parents got their first shot of the coronavirus vaccine this week. But the story of how they got it is nucking futs and illustrates just how messed up the vaccine distribution system is. 1/?

Just for background, they are both Pennsylvania residents living right now in South Florida and they are both between 65 and 75 years old. They own a small condo in a retirement community. They both have co-morbidities, like most people their age...
They watched in horror when Trump held huge rallies in Florida that spread the virus and they hung their heads in disbelief as Gov DeSantis bungled the response every step of the way. They did the best they could and were very lucky not have caught it...
When the vaccines started to be sent out, they wanted to wait to get their shots until after healthcare workers and people over 75 got them. They were confused by the lack of information about distribution and tried to get information, to no avail...
Inside their retirement community, the residents tried as much as they could to get a vaccine distribution outpost deployed there, but nothing ever happened. The phone line advertised for information led to nothing, when it wasn’t jammed. Emails disappeared into the abyss...
My mother, throughout quarantine, periodically visited her 95 year old aunt in a different retirement community, to bring her food and check on her. Last week, during one of those visits, the aunt mentioned that vaccines were being distributed in her retirement community...
My parents went to the clubhouse and found that, because DeSantis had visited that particular retirement community for a photo op, they actually had vaccines and were giving shots. But there was zero systematic organization...
On each day, residents lined up for shots until the nurses ran out of the days allotment. On the day my parents randomly stopped by, there were not enough people in line. So the nurses, not wanting to waste the shots, offered them to whomever was standing around...
On that day, there were enough shots to vaccinate my mother but not my father. But the nurses made a note and he returned the next day and got his first shot. On that day, the line of residents was out the door. If my mother had visited her aunt one day later, no shot...
I told my parents karma had delivered for them. They tried to help their other relatives and friends get into that retirement community to get their vaccines, but they haven’t had the same luck. My parents are guaranteed a second shot. Their friends can’t even get their 1st...
This is how life and death decisions are being made in Florida. DeSantis says he is prioritizing the elderly but his incompetence is increasing their risk of sickness and death. Shame. — End thread

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So, as the #MegaMillions jackpot reaches a record $1.6B and #Powerball reaches $620M, here's my advice about how to spend the money in a way that will truly set you, your children and their kids up for life.

Ready?

Create a private foundation and give it all away. 1/

Let's stipulate first that lottery winners often have a hard time. Being publicly identified makes you a target for "friends" and "family" who want your money, as well as for non-family grifters and con men. 2/

The stress can be damaging, even deadly, and Uncle Sam takes his huge cut. Plus, having a big pool of disposable income can be irresistible to people not accustomed to managing wealth.
https://t.co/fiHsuJyZwz 3/

Meanwhile, the private foundation is as close as we come to Downton Abbey and the landed aristocracy in this country. It's a largely untaxed pot of money that grows significantly over time, and those who control them tend to entrench their own privileges and those of their kin. 4

Here's how it works for a big lotto winner:

1. Win the prize.
2. Announce that you are donating it to the YOUR NAME HERE Family Foundation.
3. Receive massive plaudits in the press. You will be a folk hero for this decision.
4. Appoint only trusted friends/family to board. 5/
Brief thread to debunk the repeated claims we hear about transmission not happening 'within school walls', infection in school children being 'a reflection of infection from the community', and 'primary school children less likely to get infected and contribute to transmission'.

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


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%).

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