Coronavirus (Orange, Fortuna, August: middle schools, babysitters, kindergarten)

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

A woman in Raley's arguing about wearing a mask pulled it down once she got in the store and coughed all over the produce. I think the average IQ here is somewhere south of 80

The behavior really reminds me of the early days of the smoking ban. People would take a big long drag of a cigarette, walk into a store as they flick it into the parking lot, and then exhale a bunch of smoke inside. Sad to say, it's just typical behavior of jerks. With the masks though, I've seen people reflexively remove them to sneeze or cough, unlike the woman you describe. It obviously defeats the point of the mask, but I get how it happens.

[wac_432]

Originally Posted by sav858

Good, I hope some districts take advantage of this and let younger kids come back into class. Having witnessed two kindergartners try and do distance learning in the spring, I don't think younger kids will do well at all.

Thanks for highlighting this. I just emailed my district, and I'll probably call later. I have a feeling they've written off the entire semester for EVERYONE, but maybe not.

Also, any charter or private school that pursues a waiver and reopens their elementary can basically walk off with a huge chunk of regular public school's kids. In our HCOL area, that will kill off a lot of the public schools if they don't at least try to reopen for the younger kids. There is a Montessori just down the street that might apply for the waiver. They only teach through 2nd grade and that would be a great resource for us.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

they can't go back to packing 30 kids in a stuffy room with no AC like they did before covid, I would be happy if my grandson could go back to school for just 2 days a week at this point and the district was trying to make that happen before the latest surge in cases.

Why hasn't the U.S. studied viral spread of school aged children? We keep relying on data from other countries, from months ago.

What has happened in other countries when students went back to school?
https://www.latimes.com/science/stor...turn-to-school

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Led by our president, it's no surprise, unfortunately.

Trump Admin Transitions From Ignoring to Undermining Anthony Fauci:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020...ing-fauci.html

Regardless of what you think of the president and his handling the situation I happen to believe kids do belong in school or at least the schools should as scheduled. It certainly does appear kids are not likely to carry or get COVID, In fact they probably are more likely to pick up colds and the flu. Open schools and let parents decide how they want to educate their kids. There are many choices out there but keeping schools closed should not be one of them

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by nmnita

I happen to believe kids do belong in school

Who doesn't? But that's not really the issue right now.

Originally Posted by nmnita

Open schools and let parents decide how they want to educate their kids. There are many choices out there but keeping schools closed should not be one of them

Nita, we're in a state with one of the highest number of COVID cases and hospitalizations in the country, unlike Arkansas. And it doesn't look as if things are slowing down. In addition, school staff is also at risk.

Back-to-school is looking a little different for many teachers nationwide this year, as they grapple with returning to their classrooms amid a pandemic.

Added to their list of concerns: Death.

"How horrible is it that one of the things on the list to do is to have a plan for students and teachers dying?" Denise Bradford, a teacher in Orange County, California's Saddleback Valley Unified School District, told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/16/us/co...lls/index.html

California shatters another record for new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations:
https://www.latimes.com/california/s...spitalizations

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Who doesn't? But that's not really the issue right now.

Nita, we're in a state with one of the highest number of COVID cases and hospitalizations in the country, unlike Arkansas. And it doesn't look as if things are slowing down. In addition, school staff is also at risk.

Back-to-school is looking a little different for many teachers nationwide this year, as they grapple with returning to their classrooms amid a pandemic.

Added to their list of concerns: Death.

"How horrible is it that one of the things on the list to do is to have a plan for students and teachers dying?" Denise Bradford, a teacher in Orange County, California's Saddleback Valley Unified School District, told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/16/us/co...lls/index.html

California shatters another record for new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations:
https://www.latimes.com/california/s...spitalizations

What people forget when they say "just open the schools and let people decide" is that the only way that could happen is if you could talk the teachers into returning to the classroom and I'm not sure that will happen any time soon. Teachers love their job and care about their students but they didn't sign on to become martyrs.

[tikkasf]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...gtype=Homepage

[wac_432]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

What people forget when they say "just open the schools and let people decide" is that the only way that could happen is if you could talk the teachers into returning to the classroom and I'm not sure that will happen any time soon. Teachers love their job and care about their students but they didn't sign on to become martyrs.

I love my job and care about the people who depend on my essential function. I didn't sign on to become a martyr. Yet I--and all my coworkers--have worked through this crisis, in contact with far more adults (who are known to be spreaders of COVID-19), for far longer than the typical school day, in an old building with no option to do some portion of our work out in the open air. In fact, we essential workers were told we were "lucky" to be working when the virus was thought to have a 5% fatality rate (instead of a 0.25% rate). Yet teachers are different?

Millions of "essential" workers in much more dangerous workplaces were required to return to work long before we knew that the virus wasn't killing 5% of the people who caught it. Bar and restaurant employees have to serve patrons. Grocery store clerks have to interact with far more people, who are MUCH more likely to spread the virus than elementary school age children, than teachers.

Furthermore, there are thousands of people stepping in to fill the child care gap. Dozens of day cares, YMCA's, dance studios, tutors, and others are creating classrooms and childcare institutions out of thin air. These people are keeping the same hours as teachers, having the same or more exposure to children in closer quarters with much less sanitation support and most are getting paid much less.

I agree with the closure of middle and high schools. Older children can distance-learn more effectively and studies clearly indicate that older children are more infectious than younger children. However, it's ridiculous to say bars, nail and hair salons, etc. are a more essential business, and must be allowed to reopen, while elementary schools are optional.

Fortunately CA allows for elementary school waivers coordinated with local health offices. All CA school districts should be pursuing these waivers as a matter of routine. Elementary schools should be closing when cases are detected or when a community has radically uncontrolled spread, not closing BEFORE they are detected or when the spread is gradually increasing.

We know children can contract COVID-19, but their outcomes are better than when they contract Influenza. We also have studies that show they are unlikely to pass on the virus.

We are treating dogs better than children. We know they can contract COVID-19, but we don't know if they can transmit it, yet we're not closing kennels and dog groomers.

The problem is that we treat education as an afterthought in this country, ranked somewhere below fast food joints. Even Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, with their extreme reactions to try to control the virus, kept schools open or closed them only as a last resort. Europeans opened them as soon as they possibly could. Only in America is education not considered an "essential service."

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by wac_432

I love my job and care about the people who depend on my essential function. ...


The problem is that we treat education as an afterthought in this country, ranked somewhere below fast food joints. Even Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, with their extreme reactions to try to control the virus, kept schools open or closed them only as a last resort. Europeans opened them as soon as they possibly could. Only in America is education not considered an "essential service."

The problem is: too many people in the world ... and too many of them living too close together ... and too many trying to live too close together in California.

[citizensadvocate]

I think the most emotional aspect about reopening is those who are required to show up.

Ie employees including the ones that still get paid working from remote may need to show up once their offices get the green light to open to keep their jobs.

Schools are even a more touchy subject as schools are compulsory attendance in most areas thus students and families would not have a choice not to go should they reopen at full capacity. Teachers and school staff as well. I believe the best compromise is allow homeschooling as an option and use a lottery system for students wanting on campus instruction given the limited number of teachers and social distancing, giving priority for those who have both working parents and need childcare especially low income families or otherwise have no place to go during the day time as well as students who may need individual teacher attention, or those who may not be able to afford home Internet. Though at the same time allow teachers the choice to continue to teach from remote as well if they want to. I be curious though how feasible for teachers to do a hybrid instruction with virtual and classroom at the same time?