Andrew Chitty, University of Sussex

Please see end of this post for additional notes added since publication.

In the context of emerging information about the new variant of Covid-19, UCU has called for employers to implement a minimum ventilation level of 12–17 litres per second per person of fresh air for typical offices and educational settings (UCU, 8 Jan 2021). This post explains how UCU’s call follows directly from recent recommendations made by SAGE’s Environmental and Modelling Group and as such is justified.

1. Background: airborne transmission of Covid-19 and the new variant

Airborne (or aerosol) transmission of Covid-19 is…

Andrew Chitty, University of Sussex

Please see two additional notes at end of this Brief.

Until now the standard test for Covid-19 has been the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test. But in the last six weeks a new type of test, a Lateral Flow test made by Innova which gives a result in 30 minutes, has been rolled out for mass testing in Liverpool and Merthyr Tydfil, and in hospitals and care homes. This test has also been offered to students at over 100 universities before they leave at the end of term. …

Andrew Chitty, University of Sussex

In the last week the first outbreaks of Covid-19 among students have been reported at four UK universities: Oxford Brookes, Edinburgh Napier, Bath and Manchester Metropolitan. But there are already anecdotal stories of multiple cases at many more universities, and there is a natural suspicion that these official reports are only the tip of an iceberg.

To know how likely more outbreaks are, we need to know how many students arriving at UK university towns and campuses will be Covid-positive. This Brief introduces a spreadsheet ‘Estimated numbers of students arriving at UK universities this term…

Andrew Chitty, University of Sussex
Felicity Callard, University of Glasgow
Warren Pearce, University of Sheffield

UPDATE: if you know of a UK University planning to teach all-online in the autumn, let us know on Twitter or by email and we will update this list

Although large numbers of US colleges and universities have decided to teach online this term, so far in the UK only University College London has taken this route. Virtually all other universities are stating that they will offer ‘blended learning’, i.e. some unspecified combination of face-to-face and online teaching. No doubt this policy is heavily based…

Andrew Chitty, University of Sussex

Document created 18 January 2020
Updated 19 January 2020

The original piece is #USSbriefs89. Many thanks to those who have commented on it. I have paraphrased the comments below before responding. Further comments welcome: a.e.chitty@sussex.ac.uk or @aechitty1.

Q1 In section 1 you say that USS sets the discount rate at the rate of return which it calculates there is a 67% probability of its assets equalling or exceeding into the future. But surely USS calculates a different discount rate for each year from the valuation date onwards?

A2 True. When I say ‘the discount rate’…