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covid

Wearing a Mask in Class + Zoom Captions

Wearing a Mask in Class + Zoom Captions

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 […]

PEO is no place for conspiracy theories

PEO is no place for conspiracy theories

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 […]

Wear the best-fitting N95 you can

Wear the best-fitting N95 you can

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. […]

See COVID, say COVID

See COVID, say COVID

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 […]

Being heard while wearing a mask

Being heard while wearing a mask

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 […]

COVID is back. Here’s what we need to do.

COVID is back. Here’s what we need to do.

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 […]

Improving Public Health Messaging on Masking

Improving Public Health Messaging on Masking

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 […]

Update to the Four Motions to Protect Staff, Students and Faculty

Update to the Four Motions to Protect Staff, Students and Faculty

[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 […]

2022: the Year of the N95 respirator

2022: the Year of the N95 respirator

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 […]