Qualifying for a vaccination doesn't mean that one gets one, student/minor or adult. That alone means that, without a vaccine mandate for school attendance, students and staff are at risk.
The regular school day is a super-spreader event. After decades of underfunding education, there is no way to keep students 3 feet apart in a classroom, let alone 6 feet. Masks are also not enforced; we say, in most states at least, that they are mandated, but what do we do when students pull the mask down? We politely request that they pull it back up. No matter how many times a day, how many times in 10 minutes, that happens. There are no consequences for chronic mask problems.
So...just in my school, we have 800 middle school students. Every classroom is overcrowded. There are 4 student restrooms. One cafeteria. They are middle school students. I'd like to see ANY of you maintain masks, social distance, and sanitizing with those numbers. There is no extra staff to police halls etc. during passing periods, and while teachers are in those hallways, there aren't enough to make a significant difference.
Two students in my 4th period class reported positive Covid tests Friday, and another 5 just from that one class have been quarantined. Contact tracing efforts will identify more students from their other classes, but not the people they interact with outside the classroom.
What the President, what the Education Secretary, what most governors WON'T say is that we are in school, not for the mental health of students, not for the education of students, but because the U.S. education system is defacto daycare for the workers; if we don't keep schools open, too many parents don't go back to work. It's not because our schools are reasonably safe from Covid that they want schools open; they aren't. It's because Covid numbers resulting from exposure at school are acceptable in order to keep the labor force working.
I guess the losses are acceptable, too. We lost a teacher two weeks ago who leaves behind a spouse and two elementary school children.
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