And the teachers. I know 2 teachers that are terrified that the kids will get them Covid-19, since they already get sick from the petri dishes that are children.
If the teachers are vaxxed and boosted, COVID is less threatening than the flu.
And if they aren’t, it seems like they don’t have grounds to complain.
The only way this worry makes sense is if the teachers live with somebody who is highly immunocompromised. Which would indeed suck, but it’s crazy to design societal policy around those dangers.
Most of the problems in the post are because the teachers are sick.
The kids are going to school. Teachers are out sick. Unless you have an infinite supply of teachers, it’s hard to keep schools running normally during a COVID outbreak.
Sounds to me they likely don't have children. Even one week at home for my kid is damaging let alone a year. The kids weren't spreading covid to teachers. Teachers could have worn respirators and been fine.
Governments should have kept covid out but harming children in this way to make up for disastrous decisions and behaviours of adults is unacceptable.
It's not so much "fuck the kids" as "fuck the teachers".
Even if you believe that "kids don't get sick from COVID", you can't ignore that teachers do. And many of them are in high-risk groups -- older, with comorbidities. Most are vaccinated, but they're still taking a risk.
Teachers are already smarting over the fact that (in the US) they're literally trained to take a bullet for their kids. So when you tell them to open the schools "for the kids", they're hearing that they're disposable human beings, and they don't like it.
Open the schools incautiously, and there won't be any schools to open. Because a school without teachers is just a warehouse.
The main issue with schools is that the kids catch it, don't suffer with it much but pass it to their parents and potentially grand parents. Schools are just a great nexuses for rapidly spreading covid through communities.
The issue with schools is that they're daily large gatherings where the virus can be transmitted. Children can be carriers with schools providing the network effect for spreading covid-19.
Consider covid has almost zero impact on children [1] and teachers are almost all vaccinated [2] - it would be pretty bad not to have the kids back in school
I also would imagine it’s highly like the 20% of teachers not vaccinated probably had covid already…( just my guess)
They are trying to ignore COVID and carry on as usual. The issues come from having so many teachers out sick.
Can’t run a school without teachers. Doesn’t make sense to force kids to come in just to pack them into overcrowded auditoriums because so many teachers are sick.
I don’t understand how people think schools are only a place for kids, who never interact with teachers or go home to their older adult parents.
>"But the risk for children getting sick at school and bringing it back to their parents very much not does not play out like the flu."
I don't think this is true, and I'd be interested to see data that backs up that claim. On that topic, here's a thoughtful article that dives into claims like that:
My wife has been a public school teacher for 21 years, and has the same concerns and fears as anyone. Teachers, like other humans, have a spectrum of beliefs, concerns, and experiences.
It is what it is. People will get sick in school like they always have with colds and flus. The students (who are essentially at zero risk) are going to have to get over this fear eventually; we can only hope their young minds haven't been permanently warped by two years of fear mongering. The teachers should get vaccinated and ensure they aren't obese.
My wife (teacher) got covid from small kids. Brought it home as a gift for the whole family.
School closed again after maybe 5-10% had already been diagnosed.
Schools and kindergartens even more are the perfect environment for spreading diseases and especially respiratory viruses. Spending multiple hours in a closed, often poorly ventilated room often without wearing masks is a recipe for disaster.
You're also misinformed about the risks to young people. An unknown amount of mild courses (I've read about estimates of 10%) result in long-term damage, just like with SARS. These people are called COVID long-haulers.
This was a major reason governments decided to close schools. People seemed to think it was to protect kids (and it was, in part, especially in the beginning while the impact wasn't clear yet) but kids excellent carriers and superspreaders for all kinds of viruses and bacteria. Not just for COVID, but also for many other outbreaks such as the flu.
The teachers can vaccinate if they want to now so that's a moot point. Even before that the likelihood of suffering any severe outcome from COVID was extremely low and no higher due to being a school teacher. Students are at very low risk of contracting it and/or spreading it.
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