TIME Magazine just published a story about school reopening in Denmark, South Korea, and Israel, with lessons for the U.S.
Lesson #1 from Denmark: Get the virus under control before reopening schools. Unlike Denmark, the United States is bungling that, and the virus is spreading in the south and west. Perhaps states that have taken the necessary steps and flattened the curve can begin to reopen, with caution.
Lesson #2 from South Korea: Prepare to delay reopening if cases spike. Older students returned to school fumirst.
Lesson #3 from Israel: Infections increase when schools don’t take every safety precaution. Expect to close down again if you don’t follow the protocols of masks, social distancing and other precautions.
The necessary health and safety protocols require extra funding. No extra funding is available. Trump threatened to cut federal funds from schools that don’t open fully even without the small classes, masks, PPE, extra nurses, etc. He wants the schools open without regard to the health or safety of teachers and students.
So rule 1: take the measures necessary to contain the pandemic. The United States is not doing that.
Rule 2: if schools open, fund the steps necessary to make them safe. The United States is not doing that.
Rule 3: prepare for a new surge in infections if public officials ignore rules 1 and 2.
I was just reading a great book by seismologist Lucy Jones that mentioned that after a number of school buildings collapsed in the 1933 earthquake, classes were held in southern California in tents for a couple of years.
Also, nothing like a pandemic to make the annoying steam radiator heating systems appealing, at least relative to forced air heating. Radiator heating may be noisy with all the clanging, but there isn’t the circulation of the virus containing droplets like with forced air.
The above plan is logical and systematic. If a country is led by people that believe in science, the decision on opening schools will depend on the size of the epidemic, not politics. Trump is not only ignoring science, he is ignoring the risk that a reckless opening will cause, particularly in red states where there are large numbers of infections. He is also refusing to provide federal funds for increased Covid costs that cash strapped states lack.
“What the U.S. can learn from [other] countries…” According to the governing cult, not a damn thing.
If somehow United States citizens could elect leadership starting with the President on down who actually believe what scientists are saying then there is a possibility that things could turn around for all the peoples living in the nation.
We in this nation could have the most progressive plan to stop the spread of COVID-19 but there is the major overriding problem in this country is that there is a vast number of people who are not willing to give up any of their freedoms in order to curtail the spread of COVID-19. It seems to these people that their freedom to do whatever they want is far more important that than trying to save lives. Too many people believe that what they want is far more important than the death of a family member or the person living next door.
Until the majority of people in the United States are willing to give up some freedoms for the sake of protecting all then the COVID-19 virus will continue to spread. A vaccine is not the final solution to the COVID-19 problem as Trump appears to believe and spouts it off to the world and his mindless followers believe him until the day they died from the virus.
There are many stories like this. Deniers who learned the hard way.
There are other mindless followers of celebrity billionaires running for office. See for example the unstable rapper Kanye West, on the ballot in Oklahoma as an Independent, but missing the mark in South Carolina. He is running on a Birthday Party platform. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kanye-west-signatures-south-carolina-presidential-ballot
Just 19% Of Americans Want To See Schools Fully Reopen For Fall Sessions
In a HuffPost/YouGov poll, half of the public worries that the risks of reopening schools outweigh the consequences of keeping them closed.
Only about one-fifth of the public want to see schools completely reopened for this year’s fall sessions, a new HuffPost/YouGov survey finds. Parents of K-12 students also largely say they’d prefer to keep their kids home, though many also say they’re stressed out and concerned about their children’s academic performance and emotional health.
Across the country, schools have adopted a patchwork of approaches to deal with new school years, which in some areas start in a matter of weeks. The Los Angeles Unified School District ― the nation’s second-largest ― and some others plan to remain entirely remote. Others intend a hybrid operation ― in New York City, the nation’s largest, students will attend classes in-person one to three days per week. In Miami-Dade in Florida, parents will be given a choice between online and in-person instruction for their children.
“I don’t think there is any right decision here,” wrote one man in the HuffPost/You Gov survey, a father in Nevada who favored classes remaining online. ”[E]veryone is doing their best.”
The public says, 50% to 32%, that the risks of reopening schools outweigh the consequences of keeping schools closed. Just 19% believe that schools should completely reopen, with 26% favoring partial reopenings and 42% saying that schools should remain online-only or closed. Among those who favor partial or total reopening, there’s majority support for several preventative measures, including daily temperature checks, smaller class sizes and requiring teachers and staff to wear masks…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/schools-reopen-poll-huffpost-yougov_n_5f121ea7c5b6d14c33673898?ncid=engmodushpmg00000006
The only question that remains now, it seems, is how many headlines like
Students Mourn Beloved Teacher, Fifth to Die in District This Month
27 of 28 Students in Homeroom Test Positive
Authorities Trace Schoolwide Outbreak to Asymptomatic Superspreader Student Who Visited Florida Aunt
Kidney and Liver Failure, Neurological Disorders in Thousands of Teens across State
Total Coronavirus Deaths Double in Two Weeks
it will take until schools everywhere are closed down again.
I have a friend who does a standup routine called NostraDamus, Seer of the Obvious. He dresses in drag with a cape and one of those tall, bejeweled fortuneteller hats and says things like, “I am sensing that you, that you. . . . yes, are of the male gender. I’m right? No? And you know several other people. Some you refer to as. . . . give me a moment. . . . as friends! At one point, you were. . . . I’m picturing a smaller person. A child. At one point you were a child!”
I feel like that right now. Teachers are being asked to jump off a cliff “safely”–you know, with a pair of tie-on Halloween fairy wings.
The central problem is that the people making the decision to reopen schools are not the ones who will be affected
And actually, this is the source of many of the problems faced by schools .
Teachers are forced to carry out policies dreamed up by nitwits.
Exactly, ones who will not be putting their own lives at risk
that truth, the central problem being that people making the decisions are not the ones who will be affected, applies so exactly to every moment of NCLB, RttT and ESSA
SDP and BS (couldn’t resist that one), you are both so correct (I avoid using the word right whenever I can). This is the central point, in my opinion, of the fundamental weakness and political blindness of the GOP. Unless one personally experiences something, it is not important and likely counterproductive e or immoral. At least that’s what they think. The measure of statesmanship is the quality of having empathy with some one, some group, or some thing that one will never personally experience. Today’s GOP desperately fails on every measure.
You are not the first to have called BS on Bob Shepherd, Greg! I don’t understand the temptation! Let me know if you would like to make a few million from Martian real estate by enrolling in the Bob University Martian Real Estate Correspondence Course. Forget about time shares–that’s the small potatoes. We’re talking a whole planet here! And Elon Musk is paving the way by opening up this entire planet to YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS!
And please bear in mind, Greg, that with the closing of Trump University, it’s now the case that B.S. University is the only game in town!
Greg: I think you are on to something. Most of the republican voters are solipsists: If a tree falls in the forest, and they are not there, they are willing to accept the Fox version of the news that suggests that it fell silently. Meanwhile, they will also accept a trusted acquaintance who claims to have spotted Jesus on a refrigerator(true story). I call this selective solipsism.
Or Mary in a pizza pan (true story).
Selective solipsism. LMAO! As in, if Trump accepted a payoff from Russian mobsters for laundering money skimmed from government oil purchases and you weren’t there to see it, did this not happen because he was too busy reading Second Corinthians to have done such a thing?
SDP, “…the people making the decisions are not the ones who will be affected.”
Governors issuing fiats while yards& yards distanced from masked press corps.
Pundits debating the merits of full reopening via zoom from the safety of their homes.
Prez bloviating from a squad of henchmen just tested that morning.
And so many other examples. Springing to mind: David Coleman, “architect” of nationally-imposed ed standards, whose total teaching experience consisted of a tutoring program conducted as an undergrad two decades prior.
a great descriptor for this moment: Teachers are being asked to jump off a cliff “safely”
We have now reached peak Libertarianism — and it is literally killing us
Written by Thom Hartmann / Independent Media Institute
July 17, 2020
…Since then, Libertarian billionaires and right-wing media have been working hard to get Americans to agree with Ronald Reagan’s statement from his first inaugural address that, “[G]overnment is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
And Trump is getting us there now.
Every federal agency of any consequence is now run by a lobbyist or former industry insider.
The Labor Department is trying to destroy organized labor; the Interior Department is selling off our public lands; the EPA is promoting deadly pesticides and allowing more and more pollution; the FCC is dancing to the tune of giant telecom companies; the Education Department is actively working to shut down and privatize our public school systems; the USDA is shutting down food inspections; the Defense Department is run by a former weapons lobbyist; even the IRS and Social Security agencies have been gutted, with tens of thousands of their employees offered early retirement or laid off so that very, very wealthy people are no longer being audited and the wait time for a Social Security disability claim is now over two years.
The guy Trump put in charge of the Post Office is actively destroying the Post Office, and the bonus for Trump might be that this will throw a huge monkey wrench in any effort to vote by mail in November.
Trump has removed the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, and fossil fuel lobbyists now control America’s response to global warming.
Our nation’s response to the coronavirus has been turned over to private testing and drug companies, and the Trump administration refuses to implement any official government policy, with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar saying that it’s all up to “individual responsibility.”
The result is more than 140,000 dead Americans and 3 million infected, with many fearing for their lives….
https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/we-have-now-reached-peak-libertarianism-and-it-is-literally-killing-us/#.XxY4xblah50.gmail
Our country would also do well to consider how Italy handled the COVID-19 virus.
Our daughter and her family have lived in Italy for four years. The Italians do not like be told what to do any more than people from the United States. But, indifference to US citizens the Italians buckled under and did what it took to control the virus.
Our daughter and her family are now traveling to different places in the country on the train, across borders into other countries, schools are going to open, etc. Of course, they still wear masks and do other things so that the country does to go into reverse with more people dying.
Of course, far too many Americans are not will to give up even one freedom to stop the spread of the virus. Far too many Americans are willing to make sure they give up nothing in order to remain “free” regardless of how many of their relatives, friends, and neighbors die. Freedom first in American. Death is just some collateral damage that is to be expected.
My wife and I are sincerely grateful that our daughter and her family life in Italy. it is safer place to live.
Americans were not always like this. With real leadership, Americans unite for common goals. Sadly we have no leadership. Instead we have a fraud who brings out selfishness in others.
I have spent the quarantine reading presidential biographies (and cooking, anyone wanting good Asian recipes, check out YouTube videos of School of Wok, for best Bolognese, Bon Appetit, for best red beans and rice, jambalaya, or shrimp Creole, me [not on YouTube]): James K. Polk (the writing of his name will surely put me in moderation), Chester A. Arthur, Woodrow Wilson, Gerald Ford, rereading biographies of John Quincy Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, TR, Herbert Hoover, LBJ and you know what I’ve learned. We have always been like this. Americans have very rarely united for common goals. We have, however, been exceptional in hindsight and occasionally get it right in real time. But the lesson I’ve learned–without textbooks and classroom instruction, mind you–is that Americans more often than not, rarely find consensus and more often than not, rebel against common sense. When we make progress, it is usually because we’ve realized we really screwed up the first or second time we had to make the right choices. We are as imperfect a people as every other culture in world history. We are typically human.
James K. Polk put me in moderation again! 😂
Yes, it was surely Polk.
Although it might have been wok.
Diane: I agree with reservations. We have risen to the occasion often (WW2 comes to mind), but we have often been dragged kicking and screaming into some dreaded responsibility (WW2 comes to mind). I guess leadership often implies reminding people of their personal responsibility.
Greg: Interested in what you think of Polk. You can contact me through the website of Cascade High School, Bedford County, Tennessee. Or Diane could just mail you my email.
Will do, RT. I’ve been so far behind on my reviews. I’ve been able to read like crazy during the pandemic, having a real hard time writing. Will get on this soon. The biography I read by Walter Borneman was quite good.
moone2015: My daughter lived in Dublin, Ireland for 3 years. I really wish she could have stayed. Much safer there (an occasional robbery, & the worst weapon–if there was one–a knife {used to threaten}). No gun violence.
At least she leaves in California (San Fran not, thank G-d, Orange County), where Newsome has been working hard to keep citizens safe.
& the lesson here? Wok, Greg, don’t talk.
This happened when school hasn’t even started. How many asymptomatic people and those who haven’t yet been tested will enter schools?
Coronavirus: Extra cleaning at Muncie school after positive COVID-19 case
He said in an interview that it’s common for teachers to come and go from the school to do work in their classrooms while the building is closed.
MUNCIE, Ind. — West View Elementary School was cleaned and disinfected after a person who had entered the building tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“Additional cleaning measures have been taken at WV due to a report of a positive case of COVID and Dr. K has also been in communication with the health department,” Principal Eric Ambler wrote to the school’s teachers and staff on Sunday morning. “Thank you for practicing social distancing and wearing masks while in the building. Have a good remainder of the weekend.”
Lee Ann Kwiatkowski, CEO of Muncie Community Schools, is often referred to as Dr. K.
MCS spokesman Andy Klotz said the building was closed to the public when the infected person entered it…
https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2020/07/20/extra-cleaning-muncie-elementary-school-after-positive-covid-case/5470621002/
The Chicago Teachers’ Union is putting out a car caravan protest tomorrow. They want only virtual schools. They stand for the safety of students, their families and educators.
……………………………….
On Wednesday, July 22, join the CTU’s 9:00 a.m. car caravan for a safe demonstration to demand schools open virtually this fall, for the safety of all.
Join Us
CTU members miss our students and we look forward to teaching them in-person. Yet safety for our students, their families and our colleagues comes first. Safety First was our watchword before the pandemic and it’s even more important now.
On the other hand, President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos are pushing to reopen schools without regard to safety. Unfortunately, Mayor Lightfoot seems to be on the same page as the White House. The CTU, however, believes that the best way to guarantee the safety of our school communities is to begin the year virtually.
The CTU released its new report Same Storm, Different Boats: The Safe Equitable Conditions For Reopening CPS in 2020-21 that highlights the needs of students, their families and educators in order to teach and learn in person. Here’s a brief outline of these needs:
Here’s a brief outline of these needs:
Clean and sanitized school buildings
Protective equipment
Adequate staffing: nurses, counselors and social workers to support student physical and emotional health
Adequate social distancing, which requires small class sizes
Prep time and self-directed days and a moratorium on evaluations
Fresh air flow and adequate ventilation
Alternative options for high-risk students and educators, including those with compromised immune systems
CPS failed to provide even the most basic sanitation before the pandemic. They’ve failed to provide adequate staffing or supports for students with special learning needs, much less adequate supports for students facing a pandemic.
Join this car caravan—safely distant and protected in your car from contamination—to show the board meeting we are united for the safety of our students, their families and the educators who serve them.
Trump awarded this nut case the highest civilian honor in the land? President Donald Trump awarded conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, at the State of the Union address on Feb. 4.
Rush Limbaugh: Americans should “adapt” to coronavirus, like famous pioneers who “had to turn to cannibalism”
Limbaugh: “Life has to go on… And I believe this should become one of the themes that the president adopts, as he adapts to what’s necessary going forward in his presidential campaign”
https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/rush-limbaugh-americans-should-adapt-coronavirus-famous-pioneers-who-had-turn
Yes, life must go on in the United States but we do not have to go in life with the likes of Limbaugh. Limbaugh will never be missed once he leaves this world and hopefully it is soon. Life on this planet will be so much better without the likes of Limbaugh.
Looks like Indiana has hit the big leagues.
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Indiana makes NY, CT, NJ quarantine list as COVID-19 spikes nationally
Associated Press 20 min ago
Residents from 31 states, including Indiana, must now quarantine for 14 days when arriving in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, officials said.
ALBANY, N.Y. — Residents from 31 states must now quarantine for 14 days when arriving in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as dozens of states experience rising positive COVID-19 rates.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo acknowledged Tuesday that the quarantine is “imperfect,” but said the quarantine could help protect the states against the risk of increased spread. The list of states no longer includes Minnesota, but now includes Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Virginia and Washington.
“The infection rate across the country is getting worse, not better,” Cuomo said in a conference call with reporters.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut last month issued a joint travel advisory that requires a 14-day quarantine period for travelers from a list that now includes 31 states, including Texas and Florida, where COVID-19 appears to be spreading. The advisory includes states if their seven-day rolling average of positive tests exceeds 10%, or if the number of positive cases exceeds 10 per 100,000 residents.
Cuomo has tried to get more travelers to comply with the order by instituting a $2,000 fine for impacted individuals who leave the airport without filling out a form that state officials plan to use to randomly track travelers and ensure they’re following quarantine restrictions. Airport travelers who fail to fill out the form face a hearing and an order requiring mandatory quarantine…
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/indiana-makes-ny-ct-nj-quarantine-list-as-covid-19-spikes-nationally/article_0196c2b3-15c9-51d3-be74-731931847304.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share
There is no way to know how many teachers have quit in Indiana because of COVID-19.
Teachers are leaving the classroom because of COVID-19
Teachers insist new precautions aren’t enough to keep them and their students safe from COVID-19, forcing them to end their careers early.
Author: Rich Van Wyk
Published: 5:42 PM EDT July 21, 2020
Updated: 6:14 PM EDT July 21, 2020
INDIANAPOLIS — Some Indiana teachers are afraid to return to their classrooms.
They insist new precautions aren’t enough to keep them and their students safe from COVID-19.
Students returning to Garrett High School won’t find Beth Leitch teaching Spanish. She abruptly retired years before she planned to.
“It was tough,” Leitch said. “I had dreams, nightmares and a lot of lost sleep.”
Heidi Hisrich took her students to Europe last summer. Last weekend, the former top 10 Indiana teacher, resigned from Richmond High School.
“I feel at peace with it most of the time,” Hisrich said. “I am not regretting the decision. I am grieving very deeply. And it comes in waves.”
Two teachers from different schools, at different stages in their careers left their classrooms for the same reason.
“In the end, what made you give up something you love?” Reporter Rich Van Wyk asked.
Leitch didn’t hesitate. “My husband, because I love him more,” she said.
Kevin Leitch survived a heart attack. The couple, in their 60’s might not survive a bout with COVID-19.
Hisrich also feared bringing the virus home from school and infecting her family.
“Leaving my children or a parent with a long term chronic health issues or having a grandparent dying. God forbid anything like that,” Hisrich said.
Neither teacher thinks precautions their schools are taking will keep children or workers safe from the virus.
“My room is pretty large, but if I have 28 or 29 students there is no way physically distance probably even to 3 feet,” Leitch explained.
“Our administrators don’t know how to do this,” Hisrich insisted. “They know how to run a school and a district when there is not a pandemic. No one knows how to do it when there is a pandemic.”
A pandemic that is taking people’s lives and livelihoods.
It is impossible to know how many teachers are quitting or retiring because of the coronavirus. No state agency is tracking the numbers. Some school districts refuse to release the information, saying it is confidential.
“Every question for Trump at his Coronavirus Task Force briefings should just be a reporter holding up a picture of an animal and asking ‘What’s this?’” by @mrbenwexler.