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Statewide Anti-Covid Action at CA Community College Board of Governors

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Date:
Monday, September 20, 2021
Time:
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Event Type:
Class/Workshop
Organizer/Author:
HEAT
Location Details:
CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE
Location: 1102 Q Street, 6th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95811

Emergency Statewide Anti-Covid Action on During California Community College Board of Governors Meeting in Sacramento

Monday September 20th, 12:00 noon
Masks Required

CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE
Location: 1102 Q Street, 6th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95811

We call on the Community College Board of Governors to do its part to help shut down the spread of Covid. We demand a statewide set of policies in all community colleges that include a vaccine requirement for everyone on campus (with an exception made for those with medical conditions verified by a physician who recommends against the person being vaccinated), masking with N95 masks provided for all, proper ventilation in all buildings, weekly testing for all, the provision of sanitation supplies, and regular cleaning to minimize risks to peoples’ health and well-being.

A failure to implement these policies will cost lives and harm the health of community college students, faculty, staff and that of the people in the wider community.

In addition, we demand the following changes to provide people with the educational opportunities they deserve:

1. Use the multi-billion state surplus to provide full funding for public education.

2. Fire State Community College Chancellor Eloy Oakley for championing the downsizing & privatizing community colleges.

3. End student success funding formula and keep community in community colleges—end the no repeat of classes provision.

4. Immediately close the online community college named Calbright.

5. Implement the California Master Plan for Higher Education—Full funding for Free Higher Education

6. Support Labor and teacher unions. Stop union busting!

7. Bring back lifelong learning for the entire community college system.

Initiated by: CCSF Higher Education Action Team (HEAT)
HEAT https://www.ccsfheat.org SFCityCollegeHEAT [at] gmail.com

If unable to attend, make a public comment, scroll down: https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Board-of-Governors
Community College students, faculty and staff are facing a deadly threat to their health and safety.

Additional information:
CFT 2019 Resolution expressing no confidence in State Chancellor Oakley
https://www.cft.org/resolution/vote-no-confidence-community-college-chancellor


Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC) pass no confidence in Oakley resolution. https://edsource.org/2019/california-community-college-faculty-group-votes-no-confidence-in-chancellor/612474

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics, the Tragic Misinformed Battle Over Masks While Covid-19 Pandemic Rages On
Covid0-19

The Delta Variant is one of the most contagious viruses according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) director; it is as contagious as Chickenpox, which is known to infect 90% of those in a household. “The Delta is much more contagious, more likely to break through protections afforded by the vaccines and may cause more severe disease than all other known versions of the virus, according to an internal presentation circulated within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” https://www.nytimes.com/.../covid-cdc-delta-masks.html
Chickenpox, Measles and Covid-19 are spread by aerosols and the virus can remain infectious in the air of a room for an hour or more. This is why Infection control authorities around the world recommend that protection from these infectious viruses is provided by an n95 Respirator, NOT a mask. An n95 respirator, such as a half-face respirator which has been seal checked and tested by NIOSH,(National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) to prevent any entry of aerosols. This is CDC standard PPE (personal protective equipment) for respiratory infectious agents. https://www.cdc.gov/infecti.../guidelines/measles/index.html
Only these respirators can prevent people in the same room from being infected by a contagious individual. This fact was highlighted by the recent CDC report about school infections in the New York Times on Aug 31, 2021. An infected elementary school teacher taught for two days before testing positive for Covid-19. The teachers and students were mandated to wear masks, doors, and windows to the classroom were open and there was an air filter in the room of 24 children. Half the students tested positive for Covid-19 which then spread into the community. https://www.nytimes.com/.../coronavirus-schools-children....
The Journal of the American Medical Association notes that masks are only associated with a decline in infections, when combined with public health mandates---“Mask wearing policies have been associated with reductions in the number or rate of infections and deaths… This association is strengthened because, in many cases, other mitigation strategies (school and workplace closures, recommendations for social distancing, hand hygiene) had already been deployed before enactment of mask wearing policies, after which the reductions were observed.” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2776536
Masks alone are not very effective in protecting children from an infected individual in the same room. Only n95 respirators are protective. The CDC knows, without the shadow of a doubt, that masks do not prevent students from becoming infected with the Delta variant, yet they say that students can safely return to in-person learning in schools. Aug 5 2021 the CDC posted online the following update:
“When teachers, staff, and students consistently and correctly wear a mask, they protect others as well as themselves. Consistent and correct mask use is especially important indoors and in crowded settings, when physical distancing cannot be maintained.” https://www.cdc.gov/.../schools-childcare/k-12-guidance.html
This is clearly a false statement for an infectious viral aerosol. Given that a huge amount of viral transmission exists nationwide, occurring as a result of the lifting all social distancing mandates in June 2021, returning children to schools will endanger the unvaccinated children and accelerate the pandemic. Children and their families will be neither protected nor safe. Dr. Fauci said the US could see another 100,000 preventable deaths by December 2021. https://www.marketwatch.com/.../who-warns-of-possible-236...
Fighting over masks is a tragic, misdirected battle. We should be fighting to stop the chain of viral transmission with a plan for ZERO Covid-19. This starts with a 5 week paid stay at home for all but emergency services and the closing of all schools and worksites combined with mass testing, tracking, and isolation, quarantine, vaccinations, and travel restrictions. https://covidactiongroup.net/ This is the national strategy for Covid-19 elimination followed by other countries around the world—from New Zealand, to Taiwan, and from China to Iceland, over one billion people now live free of Covid0-19. Let us become part of the struggle to bring Zero-Covid to the U.S. and the rest of the world.
9/3/2021, Dr. Nayvin Gordon, gordonnayvin [at] yahoo.com

Worldhealthnetwork.global

http://www.worldhealthnetwork.global
About us:
We are a global community devoted to protecting health and minimizing harm to individuals and
society formed as a people’s task force in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We advocate
for effective response to achieve progressive elimination of the disease globally.
The World Health Network includes independent scientific advisory and advocacy teams and
citizens’ action initiatives. Over the past year, our members have guided successful elimination
efforts in multiple countries, advised governments and institutions, built accessible data analytic
platforms, advocated for airborne precautions and schools safety, produced scientific consensus
documents, and engaged in public communication and community-based efforts to promote
individual and public health. In July, 2021 we held the Global Summit to End Pandemics,
connecting 70 cross-disciplinary national and international teams, and we currently have over
1000 community and scientist members.
We are independent from any political body or government (though individual members may
have such affiliations), guided by compassion, scientific rigor, transparency, social justice, and
value for life, which have been lacking in many pandemic strategies.
What we do
WHN provides coordination and support activities for the network of individuals and teams in
order to enhance their ability to offer advice and support to communities and countries for
improving health and prevention of the disease. Currently focused on COVID-19, our activities
are guided by compassion and science and will be extended beyond this pandemic to other
global societal challenges.
Join our community
As an active WHN member, you are connected to scientists and community members who can
collaborate to strengthen, leverage and complement your activities. This includes resources,
practical tools, and support from others as well as access to our virtual collaborative space.
Within the space you can collaborate on projects, join team efforts, attend and host meetings,
take part in campaigns addressing current challenges, and connect with the network of likeminded
experts and passionate advocates of public health who value human life.
Website: http://www.worldhealthnetwork.global Contact: Margo Watroba
Added to the calendar on Mon, Sep 6, 2021 6:07PM
§HEAT Rally For Protection Against Covid
by HEAT
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HEAT rally for covid protection at CCSF. There are no protocols for testing and other PPE protection.

Comments (Hide Comments)
The New York Times Tells China To Stop Protecting Their People & Let Covid-19 Sicken & Kill Millions
For almost two years now, Taiwan, New Zealand, and China have had a successful Zero Covid-19 national policy to eliminate Covid-19 from their populations. With this strict public health policy in place, and over nine months before the production of any vaccine, over one billion people have been kept free from the ravages of the pandemic. Occasional outbreaks, generally due to the virus entering from another country, have been snuffed out.

Rational people, who value public health and life, above all, would understand that protecting these Zero Covid-19 countries requires rapidly extending Zero Covid-19 policy to the entire world, so as to eliminate the virus from the human population. Tragically, a major newspaper in the U.S., which is one of the most Covid-19 infected countries in the world, is advocating an END to Zero Covid-19 policy, and recommends that we allow the virus to continue to spread its disease and death throughout the world’s population. The New York Times opinion/editorial title on 9/9/21 is entitled: “China Needs a New Coved Strategy”.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/opinion/China-covid-pandemic-delta.html

Why would a newspaper advocate ending A POLICY THAT IS WORKING? Why would the think tank the Council on Foreign Relations, for whom the author works, WANT THE PANDEMIC TO CONTINUE?

The answer is in the article. “It is time for China to change tack, as the socioeconomic and public health costs now outweigh the benefit.” This logic is consistent with Ex-President Trump who said, “The cure can’t be worse than the disease”. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-recovery.html

This is not the logic of the millions of working people who want their family and friends to stay safe and free from the virus. It is the rationale of a TINY MINORITY in big business and finance. Behind all the fancy words, the New York Times is telling us that Zero Covid-19 policy does absolutely work, BUT it’s bad for profits, so let’s destroy the policy and let Covid-19 infect the world. We must accept “living with not eradicating Covid-19”

Protecting the population is the government’s duty.

During the pandemic, trillions of dollars have gone to Wall Street, BUT it is too costly to pay workers to stay home for five weeks to stop viral transmission. The U.S. government is pouring in $120 billion dollars a month into the financial markets, BUT it is too costly to fund testing and tracing for Covid-19 across the nation. The stock market has doubled its worth and billionaires have doubled their wealth, BUT it is too costly to tax the rich to pay for a public health infrastructure and health care for all.

We must reject this dangerous, inhumane, and deadly policy. Please join us in the struggle to combat Covid-19 with a plan for worldwide Zero Covid-19. https://covidactiongroup.net/ https://www.worldhealthnetwork.global/

9/10/21 Dr. Nayvin Gordon, gordonnayvin [at] yahoo.com


NYT Attacks China's Zero Coviid Policy
China Doesn’t Want to ‘Live With’ Covid. But It May Have To.
https://www.nytimes.com/.../China-covid-pandemic-delta.html
Sept. 7, 2021
Credit...Illustration by Jordan Awan; Photograph by Catherine Falls Commercial, via Getty Images
By Yanzhong Huang
Mr. Huang is a global health expert specializing in China.
阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版
“How lucky I was born in China,” a young Chinese scholar declared last month in his WeChat. He was proud: Following the worst domestic Covid-19 outbreak since Wuhan, China had brought daily new case counts down to a few dozen.
The case numbers — when contrasted with the United States, which has less than a quarter of China’s population yet daily average cases above 130,000 — might not seem too concerning on their own. But they illustrate that China’s zero-infections policy is no longer working as designed. At the outset of the pandemic, the policy successfully drove down cases — and was adopted by other countries — but the Delta variant changed the game and shows that this strategy no longer fits. It’s time for China to change tack, as the socioeconomic and public health costs now outweigh the benefits with this highly transmissible new variant. If it doesn’t, China and its people will suffer.
While other countries were still in the grips of the pandemic, China by early April 2020 had managed to get the virus under control within its territory. It implemented a zero-infections policy, under which the identification of even one local Covid case would trigger draconian measures in order to reset local cases to zero. To fend off imported cases, China imposed some of the world’s toughest international travel restrictions.
China is not the only country to pursue a zero-tolerance approach toward Covid-19. Other countries that did, like New Zealand, are also now seeing less success. But few would dispute that China’s authoritarian government, with unrivaled power and resources, is in a much better position than almost any other nation to quickly eliminate new cases and make the strategy work. So the fact that the policy isn’t working as intended is bad news for China and any other country aiming to fully stamp out the virus in the same manner.
For more than a year, the policy showed good results. Small and sporadic outbreaks were usually quelled before cases could spread to other regions. Local officials relied on the extreme-measures songbook: They launched mass testing for Covid-19, used QR codes to trace and control people’s movements and rounded up entire neighborhoods for mandatory quarantine.
Then came the Delta variant. An outbreak that started in Nanjing, in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province, on July 20 quickly spread to at least 17 provinces, causing the worst outbreak since Wuhan. Now more than a month has elapsed since the first Nanjing cases were identified — and the Chinese government still has been unable to completely break the domestic transmission chain. As of Sunday, there were still three intermediate-risk Covid areas nationwide, according to the government’s classification system. In Yangzhou, which became the new outbreak epicenter in Jiangsu Province, residents were prevented from leaving their homes for a month and underwent at least 12 mandatory rounds of nucleic acid testing.
The failure of such high-profile and high-powered measures to bring a speedy end to this outbreak highlights the diminishing returns of the zero-tolerance approach.
There also are signs that this approach is becoming counterproductive: Some 10 percent of the cases in Yangzhou were traced to a site for Covid testing.
There are worrying long-term secondary effects, as well. Increased absenteeism, drops in employee productivity and disruption to supply chains threaten overall economic growth in China. Newly released data from the National Bureau of Statistics suggests that strict lockdown measures during the recent Delta variant outbreak have contributed to a slowdown in the Chinese economy, sending nonmanufacturing activity into contractionary territory for the first time since February 2020.
Some Chinese health experts have begun to question the zero-tolerance strategy, though the government has not looked kindly upon it. A teacher in Jiangxi Province was detained for 15 days in August for suggesting that Yangzhou experiment with a different approach to epidemic control. Dr. Zhang Wenhong — dubbed China’s Dr. Anthony S. Fauci — said China should learn to coexist with the virus but backtracked.
One rationale for sustaining the existing approach has been to buy time for China to reach herd immunity through vaccination. Delta makes this argument irrelevant. Zhong Nanshan, a top public health adviser, said China can achieve herd immunity with around an 80 percent vaccination rate. But he appears to have used an unrealistically high efficacy rate for Chinese vaccines. Based on my calculations, reaching herd immunity is not possible with the existing vaccine regimen in China. It’s likely there will continue to be some cases, though vaccination can still prevent the most severe impacts of the disease. It’s no wonder, then, that a senior official with China’s C.D.C. admitted that the country could continue to experience outbreaks even after reaching 80 percent vaccination.
But sticking with the current approach would transform China into a hermit nation that could be dangerous. If there are low levels of natural immunity and vaccines are less effective at protecting against new variants of the virus, then reaching zero infections will not be possible as the country opens up.
China can’t afford to keep its borders closed forever. And the pandemic is not over. Given the still-low and unequal coverage of Covid vaccines worldwide and the rampant spread of the Delta variant, this pandemic may last another two years or more.
Other governments already have shifted to policies aimed at “living with,” not eradicating, Covid-19. Singapore turned to a strategy of phased and contingent reopening backed by mass vaccination. Even Australia, arguably the most zealous liberal democracy in pursuing a zero-tolerance strategy, now has proposed a road map to reopen. China would be wise to take heed and pivot. A strategy focused on preventing severe cases and deaths and administering vaccines with high efficacy would be in China’s best interest, both in the short and long term.
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