Epidemiologist and professor of information, University of Toronto. Researching "expertise" these days, and also now hanta-ranting as @furnesscolin.bsky.social.
Toronto
Joined October 2020
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Public Health leadership has switched from protecting health to pacifying the public by minimizing knowledge. It's appalling, IMO.
To a large degree, mainstream media has gone right along with it. Also appalling, IMO.
2/14
I have been inadvertently quiet here for months. A few reasons for that, some fun, some not.
But I'm now 3 weeks into my sabbatical, clearing room for more thinking time.
This includes reflecting on what I'm actually trying to accomplish in the late pandemic era.
1/5
But I'm starting to notice a big gap between a minority who are extremely well attuned to COVID risk & safety, and everybody else.
Part of the cause AND effect of this gap is low awareness by many of sustainable safety that might seem obvious to COVID-sensitive people.
4/5
U of T election results: a decisive vote in favour of competence and against hate mongering. Thanks to those who retweeted and/or heeded the call.
(Just maybe nobody tell Elon that Twitter was used to combat hate instead of fomenting it, I don't want to get suspended.)
This brief thread has a VERY targeted audience: faculty and librarians at the University of Toronto.
If you are one of the thousands in the U of T Faculty Association, and if you generally support what I stand for, please read on.
It's about the current UTFA election.
1/5
To use such appalling tactics to present a platform promising positive & peaceful labour relations is not credible.
But flinging hate causes reasonable people to tune out. Low voter turnout then benefits despots.
There's just 24 hours left to vote against hate.
4/5
Please vote in favour of competence and please vote against hate.
This matters a lot.
xitter.cf/terezia_zoric/status/1…
5/5
24 hrs left, don't hesitate to #Vote4TeamTerezia
We're from every corner of our tri-campus: STEM, the humanities, social sciences, & professional fields; Tenure & Teaching stream faculty, librarians, retirees, part-time & full-time!
Learn more here: tereziazoric.org/endorsement…
This is an unusually in-depth article on schools and the need for clean air. Thanks, Simon!
The last two months, I spoke with parents, engineers, and scientists about the clean air in schools and buses.
Thanks to @DrKateTO @joeyfox85 @FurnessColin @JANEMCARTHUR11 @jasmith_yorku @DFisman @CPCHE_info @ONSchoolSafety + many other parents and experts for speaking to me.
Concerned about air quality/safety in schools? I provided a deputation to the Toronto District School Board meeting on Monday.
My 5-minute bit starts at 24:50. Then some Q&A.
I felt a readiness to listen at the TDSB. Glad I was given the opportunity.
tdsb.on.ca/Leadership/Boardr…
I was really glad to have this chat with Jonna Brewer in NB about public awareness of Long COVID.
Maybe even the best radio conversation I have had to date.
And all before 7am.
A (non-COVID) fun item for New Year's Eve:
What is the most vexing Wordle word you can imagine?
We have: "oomph", "fluff", and "myrrh".
(Also maybe "ginch" because of all the things that rhyme with it, and who'd have thought it'd be a valid Wordle word?)
Our 2023 holiday gingerbread creation: a perfect scale model of Toronto's CN Tower.
(The original 1794 tower, that is.)
Happy to be quoted here BUT, to New Brunswick spokesperson Sean Hatchard:
We have known for ~2 yrs that with Omicron, rapid tests are more sensitive when throat is ALSO swabbed - the instructions were written pre-Omicron.
Please stop misinforming, FFS.
cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns…
I recently wrote a thread to journalists abt how COVID needs to be measured & reported.
Then this "weekly update". Sigh. Treats COVID as a respiratory disease. Reports hospitalizations. Minimizes the new vaccine as a "booster".
1/2
theglobeandmail.com/canada/a…
