COVID-19/Coronavirus thread

[StrangeSox]

IFT and IEA announced last week that they'd fully support any locals that wanted to strike over health and safety. 

[caulfield12]

15 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/education/senator-urges-hoosiers-to-take-a-little-risk-by-reopening-schools-amid-covid-19-pandemic/article_f7274b6c-4c64-5f1d-a764-fee4a26197b1.html

Purdue University website. Government website. Mitchell Elias Daniels Jr. (born April 7, 1949) is an American academic administrator, businessman, author, and retired politician who served as the 49th Governor of Indiana, from 2005 to 2013, as a Republican. Since 2013, Daniels has been president of Purdue University.

Shocking stuff here, I realize....

 

 

(CNN)  A Georgia second grader tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the first day of school, the school district told CNN.

Sixes Elementary in the Cherokee County School district began in-person classes on Monday. But by Tuesday, a classroom was temporarily closed for deep cleaning and the teacher and 20 other students had been asked to quarantine for two weeks after the second grader tested positive.

Parents and officials have debated whether it is safe to send students back into classrooms as virus cases have surged across the country. While health experts are still investigating how children spread the virus, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci has emphasized that schools need to include safety in their reopening plans.

Cherokee County recommends, but does not require, that children wear masks in school whenever social distancing is not possible, according to the school district's reopening plan. The district would only require students to wear masks if there was a statewide mandate in place. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has fought mayors' attempts to mandate mask use.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2020 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

10 hours ago, StrangeSox said:

IFT and IEA announced last week that they'd fully support any locals that wanted to strike over health and safety. 

"Right now, I am actually afraid for my life," Georgia teacher says 

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Amy Forehand. CNN

A first-grade teacher says she just found out yesterday that her county will proceed with allowing kindergarten and first-grade students back into her school. 

Amy Forehand, a teacher in Gwinnett County, Georgia, told CNN's "New Day" that she had been preparing for virtual learning and now has “a lot of fears” about the news that students will be returning on August 26. 

“I love my job. No teacher that I know wants to do digital learning. That's not why we signed up for this profession. Staring at a computer screen, I get it, that's not ideal. But right now, I am actually afraid for my life. And I'm not going to be able to teach any children if I am having to take extended medical leave or if I die,” she said. 

Forehand said she has asthma and is worried about her health and the well-being of her family and 2-year-old son.  

“Fears and anxiety are really high right now as we are trying to contemplate what this is going to look like for our students and for us and our safety,” she said.

Forehand said that the physical space of her school is not prepared yet for social distancing and has not been equipped with any sanitizing stations. 

“At this point in time, I have 24 beautiful 6-year-olds on my roster and I have six tables. That does not allow for social distancing,” she said. “School buses, we’ve been told, just due to logistics, there is no social distancing. Our main hallway, the way our school is laid out, we can't even have one-way directions in the hallway. And there is a very large number of students that will be coming back shortly that we will be cramming in a very small area.”

The teacher said she isn’t comfortable with the situation right now, but she is still optimistic that something will work out. 

Watch the interview:

“Staring at a computer screen, I get it, that’s not ideal. But... I am actually afraid for my life. And I’m not going to be able to teach any children if I am having to take extended medical leave or if I die,” Amy Forehand, a teacher in Georgia, says about reopening schools. pic.twitter.com/9QPPGH9XHD

— New Day (@NewDay) August 5, 2020

[Texsox]

How I will be teaching high school kids this year.

Students have a choice to virtual or face to face (f2f). I am expected to be on campus each day. I will enter the building and go directly to my classroom and not leave my classroom. I will sit in my seat and work during the day. I will have students in each class who may be physically in class five, three, two, or zero days each week. All will receive the same educational experience. My face will be on their screens for 15 minutes per class every day. Students who are in the building will be on their electronic devices accessing the same material as if they are remotely learning. 

Additional restrictions for students: Once allowed to enter the building they will go directly to their first period class. No stalling, no standing, keep moving. No off campus lunches. No clubs.  Everyone will eat in the cafeteria with social distancing measures in place. After the last period they will be released in waves to avoid over crowding the hallways. There are some additional plans for moving students from one location to another that we are not publicizing. We are keeping those secret because in the good old days all we had to worry about was a school shooter. We will have buses but have discouraged their use. 

Why would a parent and student decide to come to school instead of going virtual? I can't think of a reason and I believe that may be the point. Also, if they choose f2f they can opt out at any time. If they choose virtual they have to wait until the end of a marking period to make the switch. We've been told to prepare for a huge shortage of subs. 

 

[T R U]

1 hour ago, Texsox said:

How I will be teaching high school kids this year.

Students have a choice to virtual or face to face (f2f). I am expected to be on campus each day. I will enter the building and go directly to my classroom and not leave my classroom. I will sit in my seat and work during the day. I will have students in each class who may be physically in class five, three, two, or zero days each week. All will receive the same educational experience. My face will be on their screens for 15 minutes per class every day. Students who are in the building will be on their electronic devices accessing the same material as if they are remotely learning. 

Additional restrictions for students: Once allowed to enter the building they will go directly to their first period class. No stalling, no standing, keep moving. No off campus lunches. No clubs.  Everyone will eat in the cafeteria with social distancing measures in place. After the last period they will be released in waves to avoid over crowding the hallways. There are some additional plans for moving students from one location to another that we are not publicizing. We are keeping those secret because in the good old days all we had to worry about was a school shooter. We will have buses but have discouraged their use. 

Why would a parent and student decide to come to school instead of going virtual? I can't think of a reason and I believe that may be the point. Also, if they choose f2f they can opt out at any time. If they choose virtual they have to wait until the end of a marking period to make the switch. We've been told to prepare for a huge shortage of subs. 

 

Because I work in an "essential" business and cant work from home and my wife works and cant work from home. Neither one of us can afford to quit our job to stay at home with the kids. They will be going to in person school because they have to.

[Texsox]

2 minutes ago, T R U said:

Because I work in an "essential" business and cant work from home and my wife works and cant work from home. Neither one of us can afford to quit our job to stay at home with the kids. They will be going to in person school because they have to.

I was thinking high school kids. 

[T R U]

1 minute ago, Texsox said:

I was thinking high school kids. 

It makes more sense for older kids, but there are odd people out there. Maybe they don't want their kids at home alone or just don't believe the virus is real?

[Texsox]

10 minutes ago, T R U said:

It makes more sense for older kids, but there are odd people out there. Maybe they don't want their kids at home alone or just don't believe the virus is real?

Exactly. I'm looking over my class rosters and we must be expecting a 66% or greater opting for virtual with seniors. I have one class with 36 on my roster. Based on preliminary reports we will have room for about 16 students. 

[StrangeSox]

not sure how you avoid this in thousands of classrooms across the country

[greg775]

Our county is doing well in Covid the last week and a half. Students however are returning to U of Kansas and school starts the 28th. Can't imagine anything but lotsa covid.

Are Chicago public schools all online? or do kids have a choice? Are Catholic schools gonna go all online as well? It's interesting cause there have been a lot of states going online for high schools and grade schools. Nationally, however, there's a movement at least with Trump to pretty much say, "it is what it is; deal with it." I think personally this is because covid is gonna be around for years, not months, and the USA has no choice but to deal with it. Which is unfortunate for many who could die from it.

[Balta1701]

They had 5 positive tests across this school district yesterday, so there must be significantly more today.

Quote

Several people in the Corinth School District in Mississippi have been infected with Covid-19, Dr. Thomas Dobbs with the Mississippi State Department of Health said during a news conference.

Dobbs said that more than 100 students in the district have been quarantined after the positive tests.

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-08-05-20-intl/h_e908aba69ef3a873f00b338b1e9a8c24

[turnin' two]

3 hours ago, T R U said:

It makes more sense for older kids, but there are odd people out there. Maybe they don't want their kids at home alone or just don't believe the virus is real?

Maybe they are in an abusive household.  Maybe the kid is prone to get into trouble if left alone.  If you honestly can't think of any reasons, it is because you don't want to.

[caulfield12]

At least 4 have died in AZ/NM from ingesting hand sanitizer, one with permanent vision loss

 

One patient, a 44-year-old man, said that he drank hand sanitizer in the few days before seeking medical care, according to the CDC paper. The man was hospitalized for six days for acute methanol poisoning and when he was discharged, he went home with almost complete vision loss.

Four of the adults in the CDC report died.

"This investigation highlights the serious adverse health events, including death, that can occur after ingesting alcohol-based hand sanitizer products containing methanol," the researchers wrote in the new CDC report.

"Safety messaging to avoid ingestion of any alcohol-based hand sanitizer product should continue," they wrote. "Young children might unintentionally swallow these products, whereas adolescents or adults with history of alcohol use disorder might intentionally swallow these products as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/health/hand-sanitizer-cdc-warning-study-wellness/index.html

 

 

Reopened schools in Georgia’s Paulding and Cherokee counties drew negative attention this week after viral photographs appeared to show students packing hallways with little regard for social distancing or mask-wearing.

The most prominent images were taken on Tuesday by a 10th grader in North Paulding High School who posted them on social media and described the hallway situation as severely jammed.

Other viral images showed students from Cherokee County’s Etowah High School and Sequoyah High School standing in close proximity for senior photos with nary a mask in sight.

Prior to schools reopening on Monday, North Paulding High School’s principal, Gabe Carmona, sent a letter to parents alerting them that members of the football team had contracted COVID-19, not specifying the numbers or the severity of their cases.

According to BuzzFeed, Carmona also addressed the viral images on Wednesday, reportedly stating over the intercom that students who publicly criticized the school on social media could face disciplinary action.

Paulding County Superintendent Brian Otott also addressed the images in a statement, arguing that they were being criticized “without context” and saying the crowds only lasted for a “brief period” when students were transitioning between classes.

“Wearing a mask is a personal choice and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them,” Otott said. “What we will do is strongly encourage all students and staff to wear masks.”

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/covid-19-georgia-paulding-cherokee-county-back-to-school-212625333.html

 

Apparently, 70% elected to go to in-person classes in this particular district

Edited August 6, 2020 by caulfield12

[StrangeSox]

and a thread on this picture from Georgia that's been going around:

 

Edited August 6, 2020 by StrangeSox

[caulfield12]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/us/iowa-teachers-coronavirus-obits-trnd/index.html
Iowa teachers writing and sharing their “pre-obituaries” before returning to school...

[caulfield12]

 

 

[pcq]

17 hours ago, StrangeSox said:

not sure how you avoid this in thousands of classrooms across the country

It will all disappear soon. Cause of mass death: stupidity. 

[greg775]

4 hours ago, pcq said:

It will all disappear soon. Cause of mass death: stupidity. 

I hope there isn't mass death. This virus really might be the end of mankind, though. Think about it. I keep hearing this will be going on 2-3 years minimum. That classifies as an "end of the world" contender considering all the harm it'll do in terms of health and hit on the food supply.

[whitesoxfan99]

Maybe masks work:

 

https://www.kctv5.com/coronavirus/kansas-counties-with-mask-mandate-show-steep-covid-19-drop/article_3c413006-9f8b-5eb6-9bd6-d088976180a4.html?fbclid=IwAR3mZhV-zyedBtcC9E_LD_JyLTfXuOau_4JwoBZENoNwwP9R6bNlK8hV4ms

[Texsox]

1 hour ago, greg775 said:

I hope there isn't mass death. This virus really might be the end of mankind, though. Think about it. I keep hearing this will be going on 2-3 years minimum. That classifies as an "end of the world" contender considering all the harm it'll do in terms of health and hit on the food supply.

Just a billion dead in a year or two would be significant, it doesn't have to be the end of mankind. Dividing up their stuff will be a challenge. 

[pcq]

4 hours ago, greg775 said:

I hope there isn't mass death. This virus really might be the end of mankind, though. Think about it. I keep hearing this will be going on 2-3 years minimum. That classifies as an "end of the world" contender considering all the harm it'll do in terms of health and hit on the food supply.

Nobody notices all the people with heart problems. 

[caulfield12]

3 hours ago, whitesoxfan99 said:

Maybe masks work:

 

https://www.kctv5.com/coronavirus/kansas-counties-with-mask-mandate-show-steep-covid-19-drop/article_3c413006-9f8b-5eb6-9bd6-d088976180a4.html?fbclid=IwAR3mZhV-zyedBtcC9E_LD_JyLTfXuOau_4JwoBZENoNwwP9R6bNlK8hV4ms

NOT FOX AFFILIATE in KC where Harris Faulkner got her start, therefore, FAKE NEWS.   Used to be CBS, if I remember correctly.

[StrangeSox]

 

[Jerksticks]

Damnit.  All those Europeans are still vulnerable to the virus?  Who’d have guessed?  Damnit and all those Swedes finally died.  The exponential death was inevitable.  
 

Now we have 2000 dead in a day.  Here comes the exponential spike.  Probably be at a million by the end of the month. Liz Specht was right for sure.  

[greg775]

2 hours ago, StrangeSox said:

 

Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky have an awful lot of new cases. Like KC today and every day lately, something like 400 new cases?? WTF is happening in the world with this virus? 400 is a lot of people to wake up yesterday and say, "I think I've got corona." Everybody's masking up now in Lawrence at least. These numbers are annoying me. Also Kentucky seems to get 400 new cases a day. WTF. (I'd like to start laying into China where this disease was invented right now in this post, but not sure it's allowed to freak out).

Edited August 7, 2020 by greg775