I admire @ZekeEmanuel for taking the steps he does to keep himself and his students safe. And clearly we know how to make lecture halls safer. But not everyone in academia has the means to, or would be allowed even if they did. So, Zeke’s classroom is probably safer than yours.

Since colleges dropped policies that protect vulnerable faculty, students, and staff, we’re all sort of on our own. When our schools allow us to be, that is. At the @UofMaryland we’re not allowed to require masks in our classrooms, and UMD cautions is about even requesting them.

Hey #AcademicTwitter — quick question (especially for you adjuncts, assistant professors and non-tenure track faculty): How many of you have the ability (financially and by school policy) to run multiple HEPA air filters in your classroom and hand out N95 masks to every student?

Our leaders backed away from that narrative as soon as that political liability became apparent — it’s not good politics to make people sad. It’s much easier to assert that the vulnerable people should have done something differently, and that now ‘they have the tools’ to do so.

I hate to be the reminder guy, but on Wednesday 916 Americans lost their lives to COVID-19. On Thursday @AshishKJha46 and @Surgeon_General were bantering about ice cream cones. Just wondering: do either of you have a plan to fix that? Or, would @POTUS not approve of that either?

According to @KFF’s September Vaccine Monitor, 32% of adults indicated they either have gotten the updated COVID booster or were planning to as soon as possible.