Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

It might spread infections from Florida/California to anywhere across the country, sure.

I think that it's more likely that it ignites a countywide surge, and there are a lot of people in each park's area.

 

There's grumblings in the Bay Area with teachers pissed off at current plans. A couple have already announced they will not return except for SPED and certain EL groups. But if things continue as planned, there may be talk of strikes. The hybrid models will still put me in front of 130 individuals each week where we are planning on four-straight days of instruction (student groups come on alternate days) and Fridays for planning and cleaning. It's a joke. My sister is organizing people in her district to fight their plan. Even that part-time plan might not happen.

 

Heat drives people indoors into AC and recirculated air, etc.

 

At some point KellyAnne Cunway ought to know that many of the idiots dying of Covid are trump voters. At risk, obese white Christians who believe in virgin birth and resurrection but not wearing a mask at Disney world. Trump is going to kill off his winning margin in Florida

 

Yes I was wrong about this. Teachers will be in a nice little revolt over the next month. Trump only made it worse; the minute he and DeVos pushed for schools to come all the way back, the resistance to doing it got stronger. He’d have been better off cheerleading an all-distance plan, to which teachers could have proven him wrong.

We live in deeply dysfunctional times.

 

Reopening college campuses may be a terrible idea, a thread:

 

I've been giving a lot of thought to this post since I saw it, and want to say, yes, I'm fortunate that I've not known anyone who has been known to have had COVID-19.

I don't, however, think this situation equates to 9/11. That was a terrorist act -- one we all saw, albeight most of us did so on TV -- and the greatest impact of it may have been the uniting of the country. Indeed, it might have been the last time in recent memory that, united we stood, in sentiments of righteous anger, indignation and grief.

Even if we didn't personally know anyone who had died in the attacks.

I attribute several reasons -- not even including the fact that Donald Trump is President -- for the differences in the reactions of people here to these two catastrophic episodes in our country's history.

First, any reactions -- whether shock, anger, indignation, grief, questions, or whatever -- had a visible, viable outlet and target at which they could be directed after 9/11. There were other people, terrorists, who could be considered legitimate enemies who were directly responsible for those attacks. This latest attack is being done by...what? A virus? What's a virus? A microscopic "thing" that most of us will never see or understand, or have any hope of doing so. Who/what is there, actually, to blame for it? Not even Trump, really.

Second, any reactions we had to 9/11, and our experiences of them, were near universal -- hence the unification of the nation. That isn't occurring now because people's experiences of COVID-19 are so different. There's Dyno, who says there are at least 10 people they know who have had COVID-19. And then, there's me, who hasn't met/known anybody who has had it. And, even those who have had it have had different experiences of it -- from the mild cases that could very well, without testing, have been mistaken for a garden-variety cold, to the severe cases that cost people their lives. Even in that, COVID-19 claimed some victims terrifyingly quickly, while others, like Nick Cordero, didn't succumb until after lengthy and varied complications and suffering. So, no collective or united suffering or understanding there.

Third, the resultant changes made in the wake of 9/11 were so widespread as to be across-the-board -- tightened security everywhere, new rules for flying and preparing for flying, everyone takes shoes off at airports, no one brings toothpaste or water past certain points, etc. In other words, everyone, pretty much played by the same rules, and all were/have been subject to them, civil and individual liberties be damned. Well, that has not been so in the wake of COVID-19, has it? Every county, every state, every governor, has handled things as they've seen fit. Ditto many businesses, and even individuals. I'll give an example using my Walmart store: The place was considered "essential," and so has been allowed to remain open for business throughout the pandemic. However, our county handed down some rules/restrictions that the store had to follow: some areas of the store could be open/used and some merchandise could be sold, while others things could not. And, on an individual level, Walmart offered employees the chance to take, first, a two-week paid leave of absence if they contracted COVID-19, or EVEN IF THEY WERE JUST AFRAID THEY MIGHT DO SO, AND PREFERRED TO STAY HOME. That stipulation has since been extended, with no repercussions, and we've now had people who have been sitting out of work, by choice, for months, basically taking a vacation. While others of us have continued to work for little else besides our regular paychecks, plus a couple of specially-dispensed $300 bonuses that, essentially, are to be considered our "hazard pay." I can tell you there is beginning to be resentment built up about all the people continually calling out, so...no unification there, either. And I'm sure this doesn't just apply to Walmart stores or any particular business. These sentiments are prevailing in many places involving working, or formerly working people who are now just abusing the circumstances. Again, COVID-19 is dividing, not uniting.

Fourth, while 9/11 impacted and galvanized people immediately, as a result of the event itself, COVID-19 has been a relatively slow -- as in weeks' and months' build-up to bad. Although the actual impact of the condition itself may be more widespread than the concentrated 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, or even on the more nebulous ideas of America/capitalism, this current pandemic has not hit as close to home in individual hearts/families because of that very breadth, exactly that wide swath. Indeed, more people actually have been more devastated and personally impacted by the accompanying effects: the shutdown of the country, the losses of jobs, the closures of schools and colleges, the inability/inadvisability to gather/socialize, to touch and connect, than ever occurred because of the 9/11 attacks.

Fifth, the uncertainty and lack of closure to the COVID-19 crisis, which is STILL ongoing, and frankly, has no end in sight, makes it all the worse, and all the more difficult to grasp, or, certainly, to come together about, than 9/11 ever was. It's like there is no goal, no unifying force or plan, because, short of a vaccine, what other real solution/end game is there that will be known/sure to take place?

I think that's what makes this so hard on so many. It's like there's no hope. And, as I often say -- it's actually something of a personal motto of mine -- "Without hope, what else is there?"

 

B
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If Trump pushed an all-distance plan, it would mean he would do something for the good of the country and not to help him. He can't get out of his own way. But you knew that.

And teachers are ignoring Trump and Devos, at least in my area. Because

1. Trump is using bad math to try to justify opening schools, mainly that European countries that have 40 times fewer new cases per day per capita than the US are reopening schools. But you knew that.
2. Trump and Devos can't dictate whether schools open. It's a state power. But you knew that.
3. California guidelines allow schools to open. And California is led by a guy who only plays nice with Trump because the state will need the Feds to get resources and assistance. Otherwise the governor tries to ignore what Trump tells him. But you knew that.
4. My county put out guidelines that the districts are basing their decisions to reopen on that says they are encouraging in-person learning with safety guidelines. But you knew that.
5. Cases are skyrocketing across the country propelled by activities that take place with people in close proximity to each other and indoors. But you knew that.
6. Schools are already germ factories because kids are terrible at doing basic things to not pass the common cold around (like washing hands). But you knew that.
7. Students aren't the only ones in the classroom. There are teachers in the room too. Even if students are at lower risk of complications from the disease, teachers are not. But you knew that.

And do you really want to take advice about putting a bunch of kids at risk for Coronavirus from a guy who

1. Doesn't know you shouldn't look directly at an eclipse
2. Thought a highly communicable disease was just going to magically disappear after our first 15 cases
3. Tweeted that we should liberate states that had locked down. Now look at where we're going
4. Promoted the use of medication that scientists were screaming that you shouldn't use
5. Strongly implied people should ingest bleach
6. Tried to suggest that if we tested less, people would get Covid less
7. Tried to pass that off as a joke
8. Refused to say masks should be mandated
9. Walked into a coronavirus swab factory without a mask and forced them to throw everything away
10. Held an indoor rally despite everyone telling him it was a bad idea (twice)

And I could go on, but you already know all of this.

 

First day of an indoor Basketball camp at A parochial school near me. (July 6). The idiot coach doesn’t follow any of the rules, not even temperature tests. A participant gets an instant test that night and it’s positive. Camp shuts down, everyone has to quarantine for 14 days.
1. The coach is obviously an idiot and it’s possible he or the school will get sued, or both.
2. The parents of That kid must have had an inkling their son might be infected, why else did they get him tested? Why were they so dumb to let there kid go that day.
And this is a state that has been amazingly responsible when it comes to the virus. (New Jersey).
By the way, I’ve been saying since April I don’t believe schools will reopen until there is adequate, legitimate testing. I have not changed that opinion.