With the upsurge in the coronavirus, the U.S. and Europe are facing new shutdowns to stop the disease. But there is one big difference. European nations are keeping their schools open, as schools in the U.S. close.
London (CNN) Late last month, Ireland entered a strict, six-week lockdown against the spread of Covid-19, under which social gatherings are prohibited, exercise permitted only within five kilometers of the home, and bars and restaurants closed.
But as he announced the new restrictions, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin emphasized that schools and childcare facilities should stay open. “This is necessary because we cannot and will not allow our children and young people’s futures to be another victim of his disease. They need their education,” Martin said.
There has been a similar story in many European countries including Germany, France and England, which made it their mission to keep in-person learning going, even as they imposed strict measures to combat the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
In contrast, major cities in the United States, including Detroit, Boston and Philadelphia, are shutting schools and moving classes online in a bid to stave off rising infection rates.
New York City schools may close as soon as Monday.
“There are rates of infection at which is too dangerous to keep schools open, and that has happened in a number of places in Europe,” Anthony Staines, professor of Health Systems at Dublin City University, told CNN.But he said that the major response should be “effective, highly resourced public health.”
“Schools do spread this virus, but they’re not a major route of spread,” he added.
Staines said it was appropriate for different places to employ different measures “because their economic situation is different, the spread of the virus is different.” Israel, for example, faced major outbreaks linked to schools.
School closures “may be part of a response for a period of time” but “with appropriate knowledge, information and understanding, closing schools is not required,” he added.”European countries have made a choice, I suppose, that trying to keep schools open is very important…”
France and England entered month-long second national lockdowns on October 28 and November 4 respectively. In both countries, non-essential businesses, restaurants and bars have closed, with residents only allowed to leave home for work, medical reasons, exercise or grocery shopping.
One key difference from the spring lockdowns in these two countries is that they have chosen to keep schools open.
Amanda Spielman, chief education inspector at UK education watchdog Ofsted, said in a report published this week that the decision to keep schools open during England’s second lockdown was “very good news indeed.”
“The impact of school closures in the summer will be felt for some time to come — and not just in terms of education, but in all the ways they impact on the lives of young people,” she said.
The Ofsted report, published on Tuesday, found that some children had seriously regressed because of school closures earlier in the year and restricted movement.
It found that younsters without good support structures had in some cases lost key skills in numeracy, reading and writing. Some had even forgotten how to use a knife and fork, the report said. Some older children had lost physical fitness or were displaying signs of mental distress, with an increase in self-harm and eating disorders, while younger children had lapsed back into using diapers, it found.
Some children in Europe, the US and across the world have been missing schooling during the pandemic because of a lack of access to technology — and it’s hitting low-income students much harder.
It’s important to keep schools open as much as safely possible. But context matters. What are the infection rates… high rates in some places in Europe are not the same as what many areas here are dealing with. Also, what have countries put in place to make schools safe? What does it look like inside a typical school in an area with a relatively low rate of infection. Compared this to how are some districts in the U.S. that are cramming students in a building without proper safety measures – coupled with high infection rates. How are the citizens in the community behaving (are families social distancing which keeps the schools safer?).
Are we comparing apples to apples?
Should have proof read: ” ? Compare this to how some districts in the U.S. are…..”
NYC schools are ghost towns. Students not crammed in buildings. Citywide infection positivity at about 3%. Under 0.2% among students and staff tested—among just staff, 80 have tested positive out of 40,000 tests. But schools will shut down Monday.
“positivity …Under 0.2% among students and staff tested”
There you go again quoting bullshit.
I told you I would call you out if you continued to claim positivity rates that are below the estimated minimum false negative rate of the most accurate test (PCR), which is about 2% at BEST. (It can vary between about 2% and around 30%, depending upon at what point during a covid infection the test is performed)
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/which-test-is-best-for-covid-19-2020081020734#:~:text=The%20reported%20rate%20of%20false%20negative%20results%20is%20as%20high,a%20more%20accurate%20antigen%20test.
Quoting positivity rates without noting the associated uncertainty of the test that was used is not science and claiming or even implying a positivity rate that is below the false negative rate of the most accurate test (PCR) under the most optimistic testing scenario (yielding the 2% false negative rate) is just total nonsense.
Do you REALLy not understand that?
Do you REALLy believe that the uncertainty does not matter? That it does not matter what percentage of negatives might be false negatives (is, actually positives, ie covid infections) for a given test?
That is tantamount to believing that a test with a false negative rate of 50% (as for some antigen tests) is just as accurate and gives a result that is just as reliable as one with a 2% false negative rate (the best PCR can do)
That is just absolute nonsense.
That’s fine, you can call me out as often as you like. Based on the data released by the NYC DOE, out the 40,000 Covid tests performed on school staff, 80 of them came back as positive.
The fact (not my opinion) is that the science will not allow you to legitimately conclude that the infection rate among students and staff is just 0.2%
But the clear implication of your statement is that the infection rate in schools among staff and students is INDEED less than 1/10th the infection rate in the surrounding communities.
You can’t wash your hands of any responsibility for implying something that is NOT supported by the science by simply saying you are just repeating what others have reported.
In your continued vigilance, you may catch me using terms like “positivity rate” as a shorthand reference for “the percentage of positive tests among all tests performed.” When that percentage is so low that falls below the false negative rate of the most accurate Covid testing available, I expect you to call me out so nobody’s confused.
The entire POINT of all the testing is to give people and idea of the percentage of those tested that actually HAVE covid19.
It is absolutely critical to include the uncertainty with the positivity rate because without the associated uncertainty, you simply can’t make that determination.
Whether you and others want to admit it or not, the clear implication is that the positivity rate is somehow an accurate and reliable indication of the percentage of those tested who are actually infected.
That need not necessarily be the case — and very probably is not the case when the test being used has a high false negative rate.
A positivity rate of 0.2% does NOT mean that the percentage of those tested who actually are infected is necessarily that low. It could be (in fact, there might be zero actual infections in the tested population) but there is simply no way to tell from a test that has a minimum false negative rate of 2%.
The essential issue here (whether people admit it or not) is that positivity rate is effectively being used as a standin for percentage of those tested who are infected.
That’s certainly how people read it.
And when you post claims of 0.2% positivity with no indication of the error bar, it is simply MISLEADING, no matter how many times you claim to be simply repeating what others have reported because you are implying that the infection rate in schools is less than 1/10th that in the surrounding communities.
It is quite obvious that is precisely what you want people to believe.
I’m sorry, SDP, I’m not an expert in this area, and I may not be as sharp as you. I do my best to convey things as a layman reading publicly reported data. If I refer to the percentage of Covid tests that yield a “positive” result as a “positivity rate,” and you think that’s misleading, well, that’s what you’re here for!
Don’t play dumb
The definition of positivity is most certainly not the misleading part.(do you want an award for knowing what that means, by the way?)
Nor is reporting the positivity.
What is misleading is purposefully omitting the associated uncertainty, which is at least 2% and possibly even greater. I say purposefully because I have explained all of this to you before.
You seem to believe that it is up to me or others to call you out on that but if a scientist did that in a paper because they wanted readers to believe that a result was more significant than it actually was, it would be considered fraud.
You quite clearly posted the 0.2% positivity for students and staff to give the impression that the rate of infection is only 1/10th what it is in the community at large.
Your “argument” would not sound quite as convincing if you added the caveat that ” because the most accurate covid test has a false negative rate between 2% and about 30%, the percentage of testees who are actually positive (ie, infected) might really be between 2% and 30% rather han just 0.2%.
No, that sounds a bit less impressive. Just a bit.
I admire your tenacity on this point, but you overestimate me.
The excuse that you are making here for not reporting the uncertainty is just lame.
All of these countries are smaller than the USA. In fact, each country is about the size of one of our States…..so, easier to manage lockdown situations. We never had full lockdowns nationwide and we are paying the price with these Covid surges that have never gone away. Those states with Governors who were willing to step up to the plate have lower numbers, but our numbers are rising again as we try to fully open the economy and bring kids back into schools and youth sports….we have mental fatigue from Covid life and we are getting angry. We have been living like this for 8 months(!!!) and people in the safer states are weary and are getting sloppy (eating in indoor restaurants, drinking at the sports bars/casinos, laxer on mask wearing, laxer on social distance). This was a National disaster from the beginning from those who were elected to serve “the people”. We cannot fully open schools or fully open the economy without different leadership. Talking about what is being done in Germany, Israel and other nations is a moot point until we have National rules that will be enforced by everyone…..yeah I’m talking about those anti-mask people and their stupid conspiracy theories!
“Talking about what is being done in Germany, Israel and other nations is a moot point until we have National rules that will be enforced by everyone. ” Well said and exactly.
It’s frustrating when news organizations pick and chose data and talking points to make answers sound simple – to push through an agenda.
Those are good points.
And to those should be added the fact that not all schools are equal with regard to safety. Some schools have very large class sizes which make it virtually impossible to social distance. Some schools have very poor ventilation and windows that can’t be opened. Some schools lack the money to be properly cleaned and disinfected every day.
And most critical of all, community infection rates vary wildly across the country, although they are now going back up in most places. Some communities are now experiencing extremely high positivity rates (20% in some places in Utah and 50% in Iowa). Anyone that thinks it’s OK to keep schools open in communities with a 50% or even 20% positivity rate is just a fool.
The argument “Europe locks down but keeps schools open” is simplistic to the point of being idiotic.
One size fits all simply does not work when it comes to a school opening and closure policy in the US.
But many journalists are like economists. They always seem to know what is best — and preach to everyone else what is best — . despite having no clue whatsoever.
Overall, opening schools while following precautions appears to be working in areas where there are relatively low positivity rates. In-person schooling for students is a tremendous benefit to poor, vulnerable students. However, if infection rates climb above the 5% rate as recommended by the WHO, communities may need reconsider this decision.
Privatizers are eagerly waiting in the wings to expand the reach of cyber instruction. The more they can normalize the delivery of on-line instruction, the easier it will be for them to sell more products and introduce hybrid instruction to students and their families. It is a nose in the tent moment for privatizers.
I’m not thinking clearly because I am so angry at the entire world, but at this moment, my mood is to wish the privatizers well.
We’ve had four-plus years of navel-gazing, self-pitying, aggrieved politics and policy imposed on us. Please don’t bring it here. Life is hard. We get it. If you’re mood is to wish the privatizers well, then you’ve given up. The rest of us haven’t.
your mood
I thought it appropriate to include that caveat.
In the Orlando area, the idea that Black, Hispanic, and/or poorer families are opting for in-person schooling the most seems to be a myth. The wealthier neighborhoods have higher rates of in person participation compared to poorer and/or minority dominant neighborhoods.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-race-poverty-school-online-in-person-20201105-wco4evjpxzcbjnx5sgkdsatymi-story.html
Like the whole “civil rights issue of our time” and “school choice (but the school actually chooses you)” rhetoric in the privatization movement, Florida’s swift order to open schools was touted as something that would benefit minority and lower socioeconomic areas.
I think data from the massive numbers of students who experienced remote learning, even if it was done well, will show that “cyber instruction” has it’s limitations. Rather than being a good thing for online privatizers…. I hope this has shed a light on it’s limitations (fingers crossed). Learning is a social process and we should strive to have children in communities of learning as much as possible.
We already know the limitations of on-line instruction. Many parents and students understand this too. Privatizers depend heavily on advertising and politicking. They create a rosy picture to naive administrators or those eager to cut costs including politicians. They try to buy the top of the decision making pyramid so they will impose it on the lowly teachers and students. That is how they gain access to students even though it cannot replace in person learning. Teachers and students are generally not clamoring for more on-line instruction. Teachers know that computers are useful tools that are the most helpful when trained teachers decide how and when to use them.
I agree that online learning definitely has limitations, and that online learning is much harder on younger students, students with disabilities and students in poverty.
HOWEVER, in Utah, live classes have been a disaster. It doesn’t help that Utah has enormous class sizes-easily 30-40 students. Utah’s positivity rate is over 20%, and schools are closing all over the place. In the district in which I teach, 8 of 9 high schools and one junior high are currently closed, with several more on the brink of closing. In a neighboring district, ALL of the high schools and all but 3 of the 15 or so junior highs are closed.
The pandemic itself is also very hard on students with disabilities, students in poverty and students who are minorities, and my limited data from my own classroom shows that the parents who are pulling their kids out of school to fully online learning are mostly families in those categories.
@Threatened Out West. This is awful. So sad for the students and teachers this is impacting in your community. I agree that online learning is important right now during this pandemic. It was essential to me last spring when we shut down and will be again if we have to go remote in the winter.
While not Utah data, here’s some evidence to support your anecdotes about the poor and/or minority students actually opting for distance learning the most while opening orders from states was advertised as trying to help those families the most.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-race-poverty-school-online-in-person-20201105-wco4evjpxzcbjnx5sgkdsatymi-story.html
Thank you for that confirmation. While, as you said, the data isn’t from the same state, I expect it’s similar. And that’s exactly what I’ve been arguing: those who insist the openings are to, “help poor students,” most of the people making these arguments couldn’t care less about poor students before this pandemic–no funding, no support, and “failing” schools (like mine) who support these kids. So the argument doesn’t hold water.
It’s not a “strict lockdown” if schools are still open. Not only does that mean students and teachers are still working in person, but it means that custodians, janitors, office staff and others who serve the school have to work in person, which in turn means that businesses which serve those people all have to be open.
Here in the U.S., we’re trying (understandably) to save the restaurant industry by allowing carryout and delivery. But no one talks about the fact that that means that companies that make the packaging all have to stay open too, which means that companies that make the parts that those companies need for their machines have to stay open, which means that transportation companies have to stay open. Everything that stays open creates a cascade effect that makes other businesses “essential” too.
Frankly, it is literally impossible to do a “strict lockdown” unless we want to return to 1800s levels of daily living, which isn’t possible under 21st century conditions. We need electricity, gas, internet and other utilities to be operative, which alone is a massive operation. Food production and delivery, since everything is factory farming now.
Also, so long as we allow stores, especially giant warehouses like Amazon and big boxes like Walmart to sell anything other than food and bare essentials, we can’t really shut down. Every time you order something non-essential from Amazon, you are making people go to work in person to produce, package, process and deliver it. If we’re really going to talk about “strict shutdowns” we need to talk about consumption. Otherwise, all we’re talking about is privileged white collar workers working from home.
And if we’re going to talk about strict shutdowns, we need to talk about how people are going to survive economically, but that’s a different rant and one I’ve had many times on this blog.
Even Dr. Fauci is against a strict shutdown in most parts of the country. He said that Americans have an independent spirit, but it is now the time to do as we are told. In other words if people follow the advice of scientists, we can still go to school, work at most jobs and go out to shop. Restaurants and bars continue to be where the virus can spread the most. Informal gatherings are another way to spread the virus. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah could spike Covid numbers if people behave as usual. We must modify our behavior to save lives and viral spread.
dianne77, I agree. 😐
Even when the schools in Utah are “locked down,” teachers and staff are still expected to show up to their rooms to “teach remotely.” So there’s not real quarantine there, and adults can easily transmit it through the building.
Yeah. This is just another way to control teachers who are mostly women. They need to be closely monitored and controlled so that everyone can be assured that they are doing their work. It’s just another way the teaching profession is devalued. In a pandemic, if people are able to work from home, they should be allowed to work from home.
Mamie Krupczak Allegretti
November 15, 2020 at 8:20 am
“Yeah. This is just another way to control teachers who are mostly women. They need to be closely monitored and controlled so that everyone can be assured that they are doing their work.”
I would have never taken this quote seriously if I hadn’t entered the teaching profession and experienced it first hand. You have to be in the thick of it to understand how borderline emotionally abusive the oversight of the public school teaching profession is.
Sadly, our school and district have had to close. The numbers are so high, that teachers and staff our getting ill and have to isolate or quarantine due to exposure. There aren’t enough adults to effectively watch/care for the children. Keeping all schools open is “pie in the sky” thinking right now.
Chicago Public Schools and “many” suburban schools in Cook County (which includes Chicago) opted for online instruction. The Chicago Teachers Union said “It’s unsafe, keep the schools closed.” 😐
While online might not be the best fit for all students, at least it’s an option. The Spanish Flu 1918 kids had much less than today’s kids. What did the 1918 kids have besides books and newspapers? Did they have telephones and radio? I think, radio was 20 years later. 🤔😐🔔
It is simply criminal.
If not the courts, history will scream the effects of inaction, archaic non-thinking, and slander invoked by this president and every official who did nothing and said nothing.
Senators (like ours) and the president’s ever-changing “inner-circle” have enabled this and have somehow avoided any public scrutiny (nary a media interview and no public appearances).
January 20 cannot come fast enough but the brainwashing of (who are these) 50 million people impedes progress. They believe this is how America is supposed to work. They believe no government will tell them what to do. Tragically, some just believe anything the president say. And, they still have governors and senators and representatives who fuel the fires of virus and “me, not we” leadership.
There is no reason this virus is not under control and kids are not in schools.
Even with limited federal and state support, some schools (not only wealthy districts) have minimized infection with classes of 10 or however many students can be distanced, protective seating and gear, masks, more masks, ventilation, cleaning, contact tracing, and targeted quarantining. And, testing. And, communication.
Why is this not the norm?
Imagine what every school and community could do with adequate funds to fight this war.
Covidiots, plain and simple, those making the decisions to keep schools open.
Don’t they realize that at the beginning when in the spring it was thought that children didn’t hardly get Covid that it was because schools were shut down, cutting off an avenue of transmission. Well the world found out real quick that Covid is very much alive and well in school age children.
How many children have died in your state since schools were reopened for in person learning?
Duene,
The important question to ask is how many children have died because they contracted Coronavirus at school.
What you would want to do is compare the child death rates in states/school districts which have in person classes to those in states/school districts without in person classes, controlling, of course, for community infection rates. Because the numbers of children dying is extremely small, however, the statistical tests might not be very revealing.
You can’t explain everything with data and stats. I know an economist’s brain can view numbers and stats like some view religion…… and find deep comfort in statistical studies that lead you to feel you have found a truth. But it’s often more layered and complex.
I’m not aware of any evidence one way or the other on where they contracted the virus, but for the entire year, in my city of 8 million residents, out of the 20,000 people who have died with or from the virus, there were 15 under the age of 18.
beachteach,
I agree that you can’t explain everything by looking at the data, but you can explain viral transmission rates in varieties of settings by looking at the data. Admittedly many do not want to listen to the science on this, but looking at the data is what the scientists do.
Speaking of data, few seem concerned about the correlation between disruptions in education and reduced educational attainment (i.e., dropping out of school, not pursuing further education), much less the correlations between educational educational attainment and life expectancy.
Your original comment was about children contracting Covid specifically at school. That is what I was commenting on. And that data that you alluded to doesn’t tell the full picture for many reasons. As many already commented children can get infected anywhere and measuring the transmission to adults is not captured in this data set.
I am following and listening to scientists, and the guidelines used by the CDC. The schools in my state are carefully following the state and CDC guidelines.
I understand scientists collect data and look at numbers. That doesn’t mean every set of data that someone throws out is “scientific” and “valid” was my point.
Your recent specific comment to me is about viral transmission rates, which is different than the conclusions you were drawing in your first post.
I hope you are not taking offense by my reply. I am just clarifying.
beachteach,
I was perhaps loss with my language. I should have said how many children have died of Coronavirus because of in person school. I meant to include everything that is around in person school, including both being in classrooms and getting to and from in person education. I would compare this to how many children have died of coronavirus because of not in person school. This would of course include all the things that go along with students not being in school, including lax parenting.
I agree with Eddie that it is a fools errand to attempt to identify where every student was infected. That is why we need to look at populations. I suspect that child coved deaths are so very very rare both in school districts that have in person classes and those that are completely remote that no reliable evidence could be found about deaths. Looking at infections would perhaps result in enough observations to be able to say something about in person classes vs remote learning.
And again, I agree with you that not every data set throws out is scientific or valid. In this case, however, comparing infection rates (or deaths) in places where there is in person school and compatible places where schools are remote is valid.
TE, that’s NOT the “only important” question. There are a significant number of people who get Covid, even mildly, who have long-lasting, possibly permanent effects, from this disease. Statistics are showing that as many as 25% of people who recover from Covid have symptoms for even months after their infections. We HAVE to consider those people, too.
ThreatenedOutWest
Don’t even waste your time arguing with that fellow.
There are undoubtedly monkeys at the Hogle zoo that know more science than he does.
So your time would be better spent taking a trip over to the monkey enclosure on the weekend.
One child’s death from having contracted the disease at school is too many. But the focus on deaths does not address the many who will end up with lifelong complications from having contracted Covid. So death rates is a very limited way to look at the Covid epidemic.
These are the monkeydemiologists at Hogle zoo
https://www.hoglezoo.org/zoo_visit/whats_new/exhibit/primate-forest/
I believe the one in the front is the chief monkeydemiologist and the resident expert on coronaviruses as well as bananaviruses.
Just a comment:
A student can catch covid-19 anywhere. (S)He can cross the alley or street and be considered off-campus. Does that count for the school? Probably not. 😐
In Chicago, if one student caught covid at school, at least twenty parents would file a lawsuit. ☹️
Good points and I like the way you put them.
Personally, I find the whole idea that one can pinpoint precisely where someone got a virus more than a little ridiculous.
Unless the person in question has been living in a hermetically sealed bubble for two years (before the virus appeared on the scene) and the virus was purposely injected into the bubble at a certain point in time, there is virtually no way you can be sure where they picked it up.
Good points too, SomeDAM Poet. I agree, how does anyone know for sure? 😷🤧🤒
Threatened,
I certainly agree that this is not the only important question. I hope that you will agree, however, that it is the only question that Duane asked.
I am at a loss to decide which of the questions Duane did not ask that I should address in responding to his post.
What about Sweden?
I herd they are doing well.
Sweden has a second wave of covid-19. ☹️
That was tongue in beef cheek.
For the herd.
Oh sdp. 😁
Despite the ongoing spike in infections which only gets worse by the day (the daily increase is now 3 times what it was in Sweden in the spring at the height of the herd dieoff) Sweden’s chief Happydemiologist says they will stay the course (off the cliff)
“we will keep on this path,” Chief Epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday. “This is how we work in Sweden. We have big understanding for this and a huge adherence to the rules.”
He even talks like Trump. “We have BIG understanding for this and HUUGE adherence”… to ignorance and stupidity .
The only difference is that Trump would certainly not have used (or even known) the word “adherence”.
Keep them doggies movin’, Rawhide!
Tegnell is the one
To double down on dumb
Finds it very fun
To watch the doggies run
Covid will be with us as long as people refuse to wear masks & socially distance (& I don’t imagine these same people wash their hands much, either). The difference between the
U.S. & other countries is like day & night. This being America (land of freedom- &- if- you- -tell- me- I-have-to-wear-a-mask-&-stay-home-I’m gonna-come-to-your-statehouse-with-my-armed-friends-because-not-even-my-president-says-we-gotta-wear-masks-&-doesn’t-do-it-&-got-Covid-&-is-all-better-now!
As Duane said, we have too many of these covidiots in the Untied States of America &, no, kids might not have gotten it in school, but outside of school (they closed down 4 campuses of 2 big high schools where I live)–at their own parties, at family gatherings–& then they bring it to school. So, until everyone gets with the program, we’re on par with faulty electrical wiring: will we luck out & just live with it, get it fixed tomorrow or will we wait for a fire to start?
IMO, that train has left the station. Inasmuch as people can (due to all the covidiots in America), stay home until you can be vaccinated.* (&–guess what?–the anti-vaxers WON’T get the vaccination.)
I wonder if covidiots & anti-vaxxers would intersect in a Venn diagram?
*Dr. Fauci said it sounded “promising, encouraging,” so if he approves it, I’m on board.
I believe that would technically be called a Dumb Diagram
Thanks for that, SomeDAM–making me laugh a LOT, as per your usual!
YOU are Dr. Feelgood’s Wonder Elixir for all of us! Thank you!!!!
It makes my blood boil to read about how “important” teachers are. All these supposed leaders tell us how necessary we are to society. However, if we are so important, even crucial, why aren’t we paid more?! I can’t afford to live comfortably in Nashville, Tennessee on my teachers salary. I’ve been a teacher for 14 years and have a Masters and can barely support myself. Don’t tell me I’m so important and then refuse to pay me a decent salary. So kids are forgetting how to use a knife and fork? Isn’t that a skill that is taught in the home? Am I supposed to raise kids in addition to teaching them? If so, pay me better!
And by the way, the majority of my students have jobs in “essential” businesses (aka, grocery stores). Don’t tell me that they won’t bring the virus to school!
Like! Well said!
“France and England entered month-long second national lockdowns on October 28 and November 4 respectively. In both countries, non-essential businesses, restaurants and bars have closed, with residents only allowed to leave home for work, medical reasons, exercise or grocery shopping. One key difference from the spring lockdowns in these two countries is that they have chosen to keep schools open.”
Now that’s what I like to see. I remember reading something similar about Denmark and a couple of other spots in Scandinavia: when community spread stats go up, the first places to get shut down are bars, indoor dining, gyms, salons, et al places where adults gather, w/ strict caps imposed on #clientele in any kind of store. Schools/ childcares stay open—only closed as a last resort if the other measures don’t bring the stats back down w/n a couple of weeks. They don’t look to fully-open schools/ childcares as a bootstrap to floating the economy, risking school-staff/ families’ health on the altar of fully-open biz, thus spreading biz-promoted virus into the schools. These people have their priorities straight.
It’s a path we haven’t chosen anywhere in the US as far as I can determine.
We should definitely emulate whatever “Europe” does because, you know, those Europeans are all just so very smart and have all had very low infection and death rates (negative in some cases, I believe). I herd they have more stable geniuses there per capita than anywhere else not only on the planet but in the entire galaxy.
Spain’s in Europe, right? and they have had zero covid deaths. And Italy? Man, it’s like the virus does not even exist. And UK has also just done phenomenally well, just a single mild case and that was just because he visited the US.
Hell, Sweden’s in Europe and I herd they have not only managed to keep schools open but managed to keep everything open from day one! And i have herd everything is just peachy there, with not a single death or even infection.
Again with the sarcastic humor/clever use of a malapropism, SDP.
(It’s not as if you are a poor speller, right, & can’t blame this on WordPress/inability to correct.)
I’ve herd that you’re extraordinarily clever.
To double check, I looked up covid in Europe. Most of Europe, west of the old USSR is loaded with covid.
☹️
I think of Australia, New Zealand Vietnam, Singapore, Canada and ???? having less covid cases. 🙂
What I wish is that when people talk about the necessity of going back to school, they would say it out loud that under the high infection numbers, the reason for going back to school is childcare so that parents can go to work.
The BS about “learning loss” and such needs to stop. And once it stopped, make it clear, going back to school is mandatory, and only those kids should go to school whose parents cannot take care of them. Sacrificing health and even life for “learning” is unacceptable.
“going back to school is not mandatory”
Agree with both of these statements.