I've been teaching large lectures for many years. After the initial remote teaching phase of the pandemic management required most faculty to go back to in-person teaching. While most of my colleagues decided to do so maskless, I made the unpopular decision to wear N95+ respirators while teaching in class. Despite pushback on N95s from […]
On March 28 I read of an agenda item, entitled "Repealing the 'Entering PEO Office Protocols', in the upcoming 556th Meeting of the Council of Professional Engineers Ontario, Friday March 31, 2023. Prepared by Mr. Gregory Wowchuk and seconded by Mr. Royden Fraser, two highly placed PEO Council members, it appeared to be an attempt […]
It's March, 2023. Most of the world has "moved on from COVID" and stopped wearing masks. Here at York University, the YUScreen system was dropped last month and many of the door signs about COVID have been removed. But the fact remains that there are still plenty of reasons to wear a mask* in public. […]
It's Fall 2022 and the masks are off. Well, officially, masking is a "personal choice". Leadership has dropped the COVID ball and is hoping that nobody is going to pick it up again. So what's left to do? Continue to mask, provide alternatives for everyone that don't require in-person gathering (classes, labs, meetings), get vaccinated […]
The following are a set of preliminary tests I did to determine relative speech sound performance while wearing a mask. I'm particularly interested in the context of mask-wearing in a classroom, but this could be helpful in many other workplaces. I tested a number of masks in my dining room. Audio levels were measured using […]
York University's EECS department has an Aranet4 CO2 sensor available for borrowing. Go to the ground floor of the Lassonde Engineering Building, and go to the sign-out desk in the PRISM computer lab at the south-west corner of the building (near the hallway that leads to the Steacie Library). The location is highlighted in light […]
September is coming. And with it, more COVID. That’s the truth of it. Universities, colleges, public schools and daycares will feel the impact of the next crop of COVID variants one student and one employee at a time. The “back to normal” story we were fed was a lie. It was convenient. It was popular. It felt good. But it was […]
In response to a thread on May 24, 2022, between Mr. Tom Jackman and Dr. Michael Schwandt, I decided to delve into the literature to point out the problematic messaging that has been coming from many governmental / public health bodies, including that in British Columbia. The two-sentence summary: public health officials in much of […]
[March 20, 2022 update] A version of the N95 motion was brought before YorkU Senate in January 2022 by Senator Patrick Phillips. It appears to have passed but has not led to subsidized distribution of N95s on campus. [Feb 2, 2022 update] The first motion (Recommendation for N95s) resulted in a recommendation email to all […]
In 2020 and 2021 we wore masks. In 2022 we will be wearing respirators. Whether they're official NIOSH N95s, CAN95, or KN95 , for the purpose of general public use we can just call them "N95s". The need for N95s has been clear from the beginning of the pandemic, but for two years most of […]