Schools can’t open safely......

Between the quarantines and the demonstrations, Crisis Text Line and other mental health professionals see a rise in teen anxiety.
Some teens have experienced devastating consequences of the pandemic: loved ones losing jobs or becoming ill and dying. And now, like all of us, teenagers are seeing a flood of images and news reports on racial conflict and structural inequality, adding to the distress....read on.....:(

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/well/family/teenagers-mental-health-unrest-virus.html
 

From the reports that I have been able to get my hands on, it appears to me that the Pandemic is the most important issue on the majority of people’s minds. And, why shouldn’t it be? After seeing what happened to Mr. Cain, it actually hit home with me. It makes me wonder if we’re going to make it through this until we get the vaccine.
 
911 said:
From the reports that I have been able to get my hands on, it appears to me that the Pandemic is the most important issue on the majority of people’s minds. And, why shouldn’t it be? After seeing what happened to Mr. Cain, it actually hit home with me. It makes me wonder if we’re going to make it through this until we get the vaccine.
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Making it thru to what? 1st. stimulus added 1 trillion to the deficit. Another will increase that. Then there is the announcement today 7/30/20 that another 1.4 million signed up for unemployment.

Doesn't look like getting this virus under control is going to happen any time soon. Job loss equals less tax money to local, state & federal gov. We know gov. services both state & federal depend on taxes. That includes the biggest draw by Soc, Sec. on taxes.

I think it's going to be really ugly tax wise for everyone if & when the virus does get controlled.
 

Knight said:
I think it's going to be really ugly tax wise for everyone if & when the virus does get controlled.
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I think you're right on target.

Of my 3 kids and 3 kids-in-law, 4 are still employed and 2 have been laid off/furloughed. Probably permanently. I know a lot of people in the same situation. Some where both income earners are out of work.
 
Finally, Teachers Union in Dallas (one segment of union, no all) state there is no
way they can control students in classroom and they will not return to classroom.

We are going to have to write the entire year as one of marking time.

Now, post 25, what are we going to do with the students; more importantly-what are
we going to do with the unemployed.

There are innumerable problems that are going to arise, do we have plans in place
to deal with an unemployed majority and kids without school?
 
Because we have played in the sun like the grasshopper and ignored the threat of
this plague, we now are going to have to go on a war footing to deal with this
situation.
I no longer trust any U. S. news, watch BBC from Britain (not the U.S. version)
Link TV news and the news from France (of all places) They are leery of U.S.
response to Covid 19, predicting depression and deaths in the hundreds of thousands
(not in the millions) bouncing from one nation to another.

South America is being ravaged, one Covid 19 victim is enough to keep the plague active.
 
Because we have played in the sun like the grasshopper and ignored the threat of
this plague, we now are going to have to go on a war footing to deal with this
situation.
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Good metaphor, Jerry. And there are apparently still plenty of those "grasshoppers" out there.

However, whatever the BBC is saying about us, I don't think they have anything to be proud of either, after seeing those pictures of the very crowded beaches in England.
 
A new study suggests that children can carry at least as much of the coronavirus in their noses and throats as adults — suggesting they are likely to spread the virus, as well.​
“Kids don’t get visibly sick very often, and even when they do, only rarely go on to have complications or to die,” my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli explains. “But many people have — wrongly — extrapolated this to mean that kids don’t get infected.” They do, she added, and they may also pass the virus to others, which is only logical: “Kids are adept at spreading other kinds of viruses, including the flu, so why not this one?”​
As usual, it will be important to see if more research confirms these findings. But the study offers one more reason that reopening schools will be complicated. (This Times map of the U.S. shows where reopenings would create the greatest risks.)​
(Posted in the NY Times)

I was reading this excerpt about the home-schooled kids being moved outside the home, weather permitting:

One of our favorites will resonate with many parents, children and teachers: It’s an attempt to hold school in a way that’s both safe and in person.​
Aspire Scholar Academy is a once-a-week school in Provo, Utah, for students ages 12 to 18 who are otherwise home-schooled. It usually operates out of a church, but the school’s leaders were not persuaded that indoor classes would be safe this fall, even if everybody were wearing masks.​

“The kids don’t want Zoom,” Vanessa Stanfill, a member of the school’s board, says. “They want to be together.” The school has told parents that students will need sunblock and (eventually) snow pants, and it plans to incorporate the surrounding nature into lessons.​
A small, once-a-week school obviously has an easier task moving classes outside than a large public school. But before you dismiss Aspire as irrelevant, remember that many New York City schools moved classes outdoors during the tuberculosis outbreak of the early 1900s.​
 
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A School Reopens, and the Coronavirus Creeps In...
As more schools abandon plans for in-person classes, one that opened in Indiana this week had to quarantine students within hours....

Just hours into the first day of classes on Thursday, a call from the county health department notified Greenfield Central Junior High School in Indiana that a student who had walked the halls and sat in various classrooms had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Administrators began an emergency protocol, isolating the student and ordering everyone who had come into close contact with the person, including other students, to quarantine for 14 days. It is unclear whether the student infected anyone else.
“We knew it was a when, not if,” said Harold E. Olin, superintendent of the Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation, but were “very shocked it was on Day 1.”

To avoid the same scenario, hundreds of districts across the country that were once planning to reopen their classrooms, many on a part-time basis, have reversed course in recent weeks as infections have spiked in many states.

Those that do still reopen are having to prepare for the near-certain likelihood of quarantines and abrupt shutdowns when students and staff members test positive.....read on.....

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/us/schools-reopening-indiana-coronavirus.htm

(Geez its happening already :( )
 
More cities move to remote schooling....

Chicago, the nation’s third-largest school district, reversed course and said it would begin the academic year remotely in September, after teachers and parents opposed a hybrid plan that would have sent children into classrooms two days a week.

Faced with rising concerns about distance learning during the pandemic, Kenya canceled its entire school year, and will require all students to repeat a grade.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/nyregion/nyc-schools-reopening.html

All Metro Nashville Public Schools students will start the academic year remotely as coronavirus cases continue to mount, Director of Schools Adrienne Battle announced Thursday.
 
It's all about the economy. If this fails the kids will have to stay home and parents especially single parents will have to stay home as well. How long can the govt. hand out money to ever growing numbers of people?
 
fmdog44 said:
It's all about the economy. If this fails the kids will have to stay home and parents especially single parents will have to stay home as well. How long can the govt. hand out money to ever growing numbers of people?
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This is the only objection that merits not shutting down the schools. Our schools are the nation's largest baby sitting service. What is the solution?

'We have plans..'.
' One moment'
'Ah, apparently, there all no plans for this crisis, uh, we...
 
Perhaps this crisis will squash some of the trend toward planned single parenthood. The parenthood that starts with: "I'm not married or in a deeply committed, long-term relationship. But gee whiz, I always wanted a baby. I really don't need a life partner or strong support system willing to take on this commitment with me. I'm sure it'll all work out just fine. What could possibly go wrong?"
 
A Georgia school district returned to the classroom last week. Already, more than 900 students and faculty members have been ordered into quarantine. Some in the community see it as a predictable debacle.....The district began in-person learning August 3, and as of Tuesday reported 59 positive cases. The two-week quarantine period has impacted more than a dozen schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/us/georgia-school-coronavirus.htm

Also: More than 2,000 students, teachers and staff members across five states have been quarantined after at least 230 positive coronavirus cases were reported.
It's a scene that has played out in Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Indiana, with school districts there also enforcing quarantines. And it's left many teachers reluctant to return to the classroom.

Dr. Sean O'Leary, vice-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday that coronavirus cases in children should be taken seriously.

"When you see a lot more infections in the general population, you're going to see a lot more infections in children," said O'Leary.
"We all have to take this virus seriously, including taking care of our children," said O'Leary.


(Lots of us here were already expecting this to happen, so sad and foolish :( )
 
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My youngest grandson is 15, a good mannerly boy who means well. I don't think he's ever sassed his mother or my son. But his mother said when they were out shopping the other day, she had to keep telling him to pull his mask up over his nose once they got out of the car and went into the stores. And she made beautifully designed, very breathable custom masks for all of us, so I doubt it was uncomfortable. But despite his height of almost 6'2, he's still a goofy teenager who probably just forgets to adhere to this new normal. He's been home most of the time for months due to his severe, often debilitating myalgia. I say all this to say that children are so busy being children that it will be impossible to make sure they are always wearing their masks, especially around their friends in school.

There's quite a resistance with teachers here in N.J. who don't want to go back in the classroom. So our governor decided to leave the option for remote learning open to the discretion of parents when school reopened in September. But yesterday, the school board voted to close the schools until a tentative date of November 1st. In mid October, another assessment will be made to see if that date is feasible.
 
That's interesting, Diva. I imagine that many other states are going through a similar problem in deciding what to do. The thing is, nobody really knows.
 

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