Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

But kids don't get COVID-19!

 

The hospital-quality PPE were needed . . . in the hospitals.

If you want me to co-sign the idea that we've done everything wrong regarding C19 since December of last year I'm happy to do so.

 

The woman I've gone out with a few times recently has kids aged 15 and 11, and she says there's no way she's sending them back this year, even if the county opens things up. She admits she's in the minority opinion on this among her group of friends.

 

According to Worldometers, the world has roared past 11 million positive cases, with more than 6.2 million recovered and 526,000 dead. Florida now fourth overall in US with 9,488 cases so far today (and worse, 68 deaths). We're talking a city roughly the size of Cocoa Beach being infected every single day. Mindboggling.

 

We've got leadership at the top to tackle this virus

President Trump Hopes Coronavirus Will 'Sort Of Disappear' As Cases In The U.S. Hit Record High

 

Is he hoping that his termination of federal support for state testing efforts will drive down the positive case count?

 

Link? I've seen it from the heads of a couple of teachers' unions, but where are you seeing this?

What I have seen is teachers asking questions because the potential return to school has been handled horribly in many places. I've been saying this for a while. Getting schools re-opened safely should have been a top priority from the beginning. The federal government didn't get that. Many states were too busy figuring out the end of the school year and the summer to do the smart thing, which would have been to put the focus on re-opening in the fall.

That means a process that includes politicians, doctors, state education departments, district officials, building administrators, teachers and parents. You've got districts just now polling parents to find out how many are even willing to send their children back to school in the fall. You've got states like Florida that have no real plan other than to open the schools at full capacity. Let the districts figure it out and let them do it with less money because the economy is taking a beating.

On the federal level, Democrats figured it out first. They have been pushing for another stimulus package, this one with funding for states to maintain services including education. The Republicans in the Senate are standing in the way of such funding. President Trump has said nothing but open the schools without any thought of how to do it.

Then you have districts making decisions without even getting input from teachers, the ones who may have to be in the crowded classrooms. I'm surprised teachers haven't been more vocal about this. There are parts of the country that will return to school in early August. Most will be late August. The discussions should have started as soon as it was clear schools wouldn't be re-opening in May and June. The plans should already be in place. Most of the country is finally waking up to the idea that we can't fully re-open the economy without schools returning full time and full capacity and the result is a half-assed process that is going to put everybody at risk. I'm not just talking about the students. I'm not even talking about the risk for teachers and other adults in the schools. I'm talking about the communities that will be put at risk by large groups of people meeting in small spaces, often with poor ventilation, for significant periods of time and then bringing the virus home. Think about what schools really are an tell me that isn't the kind of physical location that we have learned is likely to spread COVID-19.

It's nice that most of the country is finally really waking up to this problem. Now let's see you and others come up with something other than blaming teachers for the piss-poor way this is all being handled by the politicians making the decisions. Here's the part you really don't want to hear. It may already be too late to do it right. Even if the Republicans wake up and allow stimulus packages to go through, by the time that money gets to the schools, many won't have time to spend it to make things safe. Do you think they can redesign their spaces and hire additional staff to allow for smaller classes in a month?

What I've heard is teachers and parents asking for some sort of plan and not getting answers. To be clear, this isn't everywhere. New York has been working on this. There have been committees at state and local levels working on re-opening plans. Those committees have had stakeholders at every level, including teachers, students and parents. That's what should have been going on all over.

 

The response I keep hearing is that Israel didn't have proper precautions in place, including social distancing and masks. The thing is, I don't see much of the United States doing much to avoid a similar situation here. In many places, the logic seems to be that children don't get as sick, they seem to contract the virus less and maybe even spread it less. Besides, we need schools open so everyone can go back to work, so let's just do it and see how it goes. Think about the number of people who could be infected by just a few people with the virus in even one school.

It's not just that we aren't learning from examples in other countries. It's that many states are way behind on creating a plan and we're going to see a serious cluster-fuck come September.

 

Can someone be so kind as to give me a link to day-by-day COVID figures in the U.S. starting at the beginning in January? Thanks.

 

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S.

This what you need?

 

Build that wall!!!


NATIONAL
Mexico closes US border in Arizona to stop July 4th visitors, citing COVID-19 fears


https://www.star-telegram.com/news/nation-world/national/article243985782.html

 

Discussions have already started, at least in the districts where I know people. My district put out a detailed survey for teachers asking for input about what they want to see in the next school year—whether we open like "normal" (not really, but all students return), all online and no student return, a cohort schedule or some combo. We could give preferences and detail our concerns. They even asked if teachers had concerns for their own health. I was very explicit that we need a real plan—one way or another—with enough time to get lessons together and very explicit that I preferred a cohort model. It looks like my district will go with a split schedule for students if that is possible with students having the ability to opt into online only if heath concerns warrant it. Of course, my district can fuck up a paint by numbers picture with two colors. We'll see.

My sister's district, however, put out a really fucked up survey that basically said any teacher who can't return to work because of covid will be removed from their school site, made into an online teacher and no guarantee they can get their jobs back if things reopen.

The problem is plans we create now could be meaningless in three weeks. The best we can do is come up with plans if we are told by our county department of ed what is considered safe to do. Right now, the department of ed says we should prioritize getting kids back in the classrooms with as much social distancing and masks as we can enforce. That could change. And this doesn't even get into the inequity of individual districts or districts where parents have nothing better to do than make life miserable for everyone.