CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

15 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

 

 

Not sure why anyone asks him any questions anymore.  Has anyone called him out on blaming Obama/Biden for the lack of Covid-19 testing yet? 

[DDD Dad 14338]

4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Utterly expected, and just fucking great:

We are a fucking failed state.

Daughter goes to college in Quebec.  Her current plan: she will return in mid-August (she has an apartment, that's where her life is).  She will be required to isolate at the apartment for 14 days, under threat of significant penalty.  Once she has cleared that period, she can live her life.  Which she may have to do there for the foreseeable future, because if she comes back here, she'd have to isolate for ANOTHER 14 days on her return.  So, on Sunday (after conversation with all of her friends), she broke it to us that we just may not get to see her for Christmas this year.

The tradeoff would be that my daughter gets to live her life (as we've raised her to do), and she gets to do so in a relatively safe, functional locale.

Breaks my fucking heart.  My country is a fucking disaster and a failure.  And it matters.

That sucks.  I feel the pain (somewhat) since this destroyed my summer plans to go to Banff.  Much worse for the girl.  

[justhookit 4191]

That report y’all are freaking out about isn’t about daily case numbers, hospitalizations, or deaths. That is and still will be collected at the county level and reported by the counties and states. They are talking about hospital reporting info I.e. beds, vents, etc. I’m not sure I like that either, but we will see.

 

[RDCanecutter 26426]

If most schools go online, I wonder how this affects private schools.

I mean, why pay twice (tuition, taxes) to keep your kid away from Frightening Dark Children, if your kid is at home on the couch? The public school online program will probably be more comprehensive that whatever Sister Hermegunda or Headmaster Beauregard can slap together. Why not just put your kid "in" the public school you already pay for?

Yeah, I know your kid's private school is super-duper elite. I'm talking about the other 100%.

Could going online actually help kids in the worst districts, who get all those young teachers who don't know how to control a class? Those young teachers live online already.

Hmmm.

Edited July 14, 2020 by RDCanecutter

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

13 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Looks like we have a vaccine l. Tune into the news now. 

 

Only things I see on the net reference Moderna.  Is that what you're seeing?  Cuz if so, uh, yeah I'll let a few other folks go first.

[SizzleChest 8283]

1 minute ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

 

Only things I see on the net reference Moderna.  Is that what you're seeing?  Cuz if so, uh, yeah I'll let a few other folks go first.

Yes, Moderna.

 

[Satchel 6938]

16 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

I can answer this.  We didn’t have enough to begin with and that astronomical sudden increase in demand created an astronomical back log that still hasn’t caught up.  Combine that with the explosion in covid cases that wasn’t anticipated by suppliers and you get another round of demand that cannot be supplied.  The supply chain never fully recovered from March nor could it predict this amount of demand without taking on some very risky business investments. 

In other words, Trump should have invoked the Defense Production Act 

[bolverk 29671]

6 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

 

Only things I see on the net reference Moderna.  Is that what you're seeing?  Cuz if so, uh, yeah I'll let a few other folks go first.

 

6 minutes ago, SizzleChest said:

Yes, Moderna.

 

I can't keep up with everything and kinda 'member some previous discussion about Moderna. Can y'all briefly explain the skepticism?

[kevwun 15781]

A few people have tested positive at work in different departments.  There has been no official communications on who it was or even what dept they were in.  No attempts at contract tracing and no cleaning.  I have never seen anything like this and have no idea what I should do about it.  Moral is in the crapper as you can imagine over the complete lack of communication.

Edited July 14, 2020 by kevwun

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

4 minutes ago, Satchel said:

In other words, Trump should have invoked the Defense Production Act 

Yes, absolutely.  Manufacturers are profit driven and they’re not going to over produce products without buyers guaranteed, but also many manufacturers are not equipped to produce the amount demanded right now.  

US consumers have been spoiled into thinking they can just easily order a truckload of whatever and it will magically show up in a few weeks.  It doesn’t work that way when demand increases by 800% overnight. 

[YChang 3443]

36 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

CHINA IS LYING ABOUT THEIR NUMBERS

Trump - “Hold my bubble tea.”

Bubble tea is a Taiwanese invention. :-P

Do y'all even have bubble tea in your neck of the woods?

[Hefeweizen 5320]

7 minutes ago, kevwun said:

A few people have tested positive at work in different departments.  There has been no official communications on who it was or even what dept they were in.  No attempts at contract tracing and no cleaning.  I have never seen anything like this and have no idea what I should do about it.  Moral is in the crapper as you can imagine over the complete lack of communication.

We’re trying and it has become a shitshow.  Every company is trying to figure out the protocol on their own.  My recommendation is if you’re a decision maker, make it, and if not, go to your boss and tell him you feel unsafe.  That will makes things happen.  Unsafe working conditions are still a big no no regardless of other circumstances.

[triplehorn 2664]

Quote

Officials said the change should help ease data gathering and assist the White House coronavirus task force in allocating scarce supplies like personal protective gear and the drug remdesivir.

 

26 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

From the article:

That's a threat to withhold remdesivir from any hospitals that don't comply. They're just so fucking evil.

I have a hunch this is the WH task force being led by the business front of Gilead, not the other way around.  Based on what we know about the drug's efficacy and side effects, that news quote sure looks like reverse psychology applied in full effect.  With billions for the pharma taking in the US amidst an accelerating viral inferno, remdesivir is being elevated almost entirely by PR manipulation and an incompletely informed if not willingly compliant press.   

[kevwun 15781]

The problem is the buck stops with my boss and this is all happening at his direction.  He thinks telling no one anything is how we should handle this.

Edited July 14, 2020 by kevwun

[DDD Dad 14338]

20 minutes ago, bolverk said:

 

I can't keep up with everything and kinda 'member some previous discussion about Moderna. Can y'all briefly explain the skepticism?

It was posted up thread or perhaps in the medical thread in DT.  Some questions about the reliability of their data and their methods.  Also, IIRC, they have no prior history in developing or manufacturing vaccines.

Edited July 14, 2020 by DDD Dad

[triplehorn 2664]

13 hours ago, Hookah Horns said:

Which study is fake? 

Lancet study that got folded into the WaPo article a few days ago and referenced via hyperlink.  The hyperlinked article elaborated on the findings of the study without any updates on the retraction, only vague references to controversy over the data, but extensive detail written on findings that are now unsubstantiated.  The fact you are asking about 'which study' kind of underscores how many people read these articles with the result being a misinformed understanding.  Why is it happening?  follow the damn money.

[Hefeweizen 5320]

7 minutes ago, kevwun said:

The problem is the buck stops with my boss and this is all happening at his direction.  He thinks telling no one anything is how we should handle this.

He’s going to get himself sued to Bolivia.  I’m not joking, the liability from not showing a plan and following it is going to kill businesses.  The CDC guidelines are a good starting place.  If you have a dedicated Hr person, they do the contact tracing and keep the privacy to the extent they can.

[RDCanecutter 26426]

9 minutes ago, kevwun said:

The problem is the buck stops with my boss and this is all happening at his direction.  He thinks telling no one anything is how we should handle this.

Well, now is the time for you to start doing some weird shit, and see if the boss covers for you.

[kevwun 15781]

Somehow I don't think this works both ways.

Edited July 14, 2020 by kevwun

[NameAlreadyInUse 5112]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

you know.....this analogy is not off-target.  We've eclipsed that death toll by far, and the bulk of it is due to complete mismanagement of the situation (again, spot-on analogy).

The effects of this pandemic on our human population, on our economy, on our culture, on our long-term well-being as a nation, are going to be fucking horrific.  We are going to be talking about this 20 years from now, because we'll still be dealing with the fallout.

We wanted to take a flyer, and "elect an outsider!  He's a BIDNESS MAN!"......and this is exactly how that fucking turns out.  It was never going to turn out any way OTHER than this.

I think if we'd actually elected a businessman who knew how to delegate and listen to advisors instead of a carnival barker who claims he's a businessman, we could've come through this ok.  The problem is all the people who can't tell the difference between the two, and that's disheartening.

 

50 minutes ago, kevwun said:

A few people have tested positive at work in different departments.  There has been no official communications on who it was or even what dept they were in.  No attempts at contract tracing and no cleaning.  I have never seen anything like this and have no idea what I should do about it.  Moral is in the crapper as you can imagine over the complete lack of communication.

This seems like a very good reason to strike.  

[Wanker Bob 379]

4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Cool.  We get to comfort ourselves with "hey, it's a lot like the Blitz!"....while the rest of the western world gets to say "we figured this shit out enough to restore our economy and systems to basic functionality, and we don't have to make such shitty choices."

Again, we're looking at "it's just like the Blitz!"....and calling that a fucking win?  Jesus, we fucking suck.

it's by no means any kind of win but it's the reality every American family who has no bearing on the choices of American leadership lives in right now. Of course there are stark differences to the blitz or other past disasters but what is similar is we have to adapt to our circumstances and be smart to survive them as best we can. Choosing the send your children to a place where other infected children from families you don't know will be present with them for hours each day is not taking the safety of your family seriously. 

[Bama Chick 28596]

Bubble tea is a Taiwanese invention. :-P
Do y'all even have bubble tea in your neck of the woods?

Ugh yes. I hate it. The kids love it though.

It’s like drinking zits.

[Beau Vine 54217]

1 hour ago, kevwun said:

A few people have tested positive at work in different departments.  There has been no official communications on who it was or even what dept they were in.  No attempts at contract tracing and no cleaning.  I have never seen anything like this and have no idea what I should do about it.  Moral is in the crapper as you can imagine over the complete lack of communication.

Our dept chair was explaining about procedures if we go back to f2f...

Me: "What happens if one of our students in the class gets sick?  Will we be notified?"
"yes."
 

"Who's going to notify us?" 

"the dean's office"

"who is going to notify them?"
"Well, the student is supposed to."

"Supposed to?"

hem/haw/etc

Morale in that room also went into the crapper.

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Hookah Horns 3083]

2 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

I can answer this.  We didn’t have enough to begin with and that astronomical sudden increase in demand created an astronomical back log that still hasn’t caught up.  Combine that with the explosion in covid cases that wasn’t anticipated by suppliers and you get another round of demand that cannot be supplied.  The supply chain never fully recovered from March nor could it predict this amount of demand without taking on some very risky business investments. 

And Trump has refused to utilize the DPA to fix it. I don't know or understand why not. 

[lemonlime 5503]

21 minutes ago, Hookah Horns said:

And Trump has refused to utilize the DPA to fix it. I don't know or understand why not. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Refrigerated corpse trucks on every corner. 

[Brisketexan 105118]

Refrigerated corpse trucks on every corner. 

Gotta tell ya...I’d have MUCH preferred the taco truck version of that outcome.

[Nivek 16926]

4 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

Whoever controls the information controls the message. 

wasnt that the plot to a bond movie?

[BrickHorn 18228]

4 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

Whoever controls the information controls the message. 

 

[Post Oak 20213]

Brent is gonna get me through 2020

Be sure to thank a veteran.

 

[HenryJames 66048]

Good work, USA Today.

[GreenspointTexas 9600]

Bars - closed. Pedal parties - open




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[safe sex 11720]

Unreal

[Ted Lange 16085]

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/07/14/man-killed-police-mask-dispute-lansing-area-store/112234476/

[heso 2794]

Anti-mask anecdote from earlier today: 

Driving across PA today in the trumpiest of areas, a county trump won 72-23. I stop for gas and a piss. Inside I’m pleasantly surprised to see almost complete mask usage. This is a county with 95 total cases. One guy not wearing a mask inside. Not only that, but he’s eyeballing me like I’m the fucking weirdo. Classic little man, 5’6” at best in boots, looks like a typical bad apple cop, early 40s. Ends up in front of me in the checkout line. He’s buying two 16 oz cans of natural ice and a slim jim. “holy shit people actually drink that”. He leaves the store and gets into a beat up old minivan. As he pulls away, I already know what’s there before I see it. Trump 2020. No doubt Trump has that man’s interest top of mind. 

Truly the best people. 

[lemonlime 5503]

If you're president, and you wanted to kill as many Americans as possible, what would you do differently than trump has done?  His actions have demonstrably made the situation worse.  This is what a president would do if he were trying to kill people.  Hell, even if there was no federal government, we'd be better off today.

Do nothing about invoking the Defense Production Act while interfering in the sales of PPE and ventilators, making the states bid against each other.

Encourage your followers to not take the most basic steps to prevent spreading (masks), while encouraging states, businesses, and schools to open up without adequate testing, PPE, or contact tracing.

Try to take health insurance away from millions, while many are out of work.

Sideline the experts.

Hold nonsense, incoherent press conferences filled with misinformation.

 

[Huckleberry 32859]

4 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Our dept chair was explaining about procedures if we go back to f2f...

Me: "What happens if one of our students in the class gets sick?  Will we be notified?"
"yes."
 

"Who's going to notify us?" 

"the dean's office"

"who is going to notify them?"
"Well, the student is supposed to."

"Supposed to?"

hem/haw/etc

Morale in that room also went into the crapper.

 

My daughter has decided not to go back to Texas State for next year. Possibly longer but we will see. She is high risk (immunocompromised) and she was not very confident in the admin having a plan so we obviously support her decision. 

[Pancho 44768]

Based on that interview on ABC13, Abbott is not going to shut down the state again.

 

Now was he logical? Nah. 

[Post Oak 20213]

32 minutes ago, lemonlime said:

If you're Putin, and you wanted to kill as many Americans as possible, what would you do differently than trump has done?  His actions have demonstrably made the situation worse.  This is what a president would do if he were trying to kill people.  Hell, even if there was no federal government, we'd be better off today.

Do nothing about invoking the Defense Production Act while interfering in the sales of PPE and ventilators, making the states bid against each other.

Encourage your followers to not take the most basic steps to prevent spreading (masks), while encouraging states, businesses, and schools to open up without adequate testing, PPE, or contact tracing.

Try to take health insurance away from millions, while many are out of work.

Sideline the experts.

Hold nonsense, incoherent press conferences filled with misinformation.

 

Still applies

[Biff Tannen 45678]

36 minutes ago, lemonlime said:

If you're president, and you wanted to kill as many Americans as possible, what would you do differently than trump has done?  His actions have demonstrably made the situation worse.  This is what a president would do if he were trying to kill people.  Hell, even if there was no federal government, we'd be better off today.

Do nothing about invoking the Defense Production Act while interfering in the sales of PPE and ventilators, making the states bid against each other.

Encourage your followers to not take the most basic steps to prevent spreading (masks), while encouraging states, businesses, and schools to open up without adequate testing, PPE, or contact tracing.

Try to take health insurance away from millions, while many are out of work.

Sideline the experts.

Hold nonsense, incoherent press conferences filled with misinformation.

 

The sad part is I really don’t think he is actually trying to kill people, he’s just that much of a fucking moron and narcissist that his brain can’t comprehend what course of action would be politically good for him. He just doubles down over and over on the red meat for his idiot cult base. 
 

Again, his enablers in his cabinet and congress are the true evil here. 

[lemonlime 5503]

 

6 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Still applies

 

2 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

The sad part is I really don’t think he is actually trying to kill people, he’s just that much of a fucking moron and narcissist that his brain can’t comprehend what course of action would be politically good for him. He just doubles down over and over on the red meat for his idiot cult base. 
 

Again, his enablers in his cabinet and congress are the true evil here. 

Yup.  I think he's a fucking moron, who also is in some stage of dementia.  But someone is encouraging him in this shit.  All they have to do is praise him and he'll do whatever Putin, Jared, Hannity, whoever says.  But, someone with his ear, is encouraging him to, if not kill Americans, at least to make us all hate each other, separate us from our allies, and tank our economy.

And, yes, his enablers are the true evil here.  100 times this.

[Biff Tannen 45678]

Oh and he’s also a bonafide conspiracy theorist. Maybe we shouldn’t elect one of those again. 

[cactusflinthead 27598]

 

[horn4life 3760]

I wish our President was as good at protecting Americans, as he is pretending he hasn't cheated every fucking time he has played golf in his lifetime.

[Jhawkmvp 1489]

3 hours ago, HenryJames said:

Good work, USA Today.

Good news is they have a poll at the bottom of the opposing view asking if you agree with Navarro. Strongly disagree (84%) and disagree (5%) are kicking the shit out of strongly agree (7%) and agree (2%).

Edited July 15, 2020 by Jhawkmvp

[Bama Chick 28596]

A teacher friend of mine shared this today and I think it perfectly lays out why all the reasons people are using to justify flinging the school doors open is bullshit.

I return to school on August 6 for In-service. My students will come on August 12. I have been told our county will not be able to accomodate for the 6 feet of social distancing recomendations and that teachers will just have to "do our best with this". I’ve been struggling with how I feel about this until I read this post written by a parent I don’t know in a different district, but their explanations for why they are making their choices hit me exceptionally hard:

To our fellow school families, this is it gang, 5 days until the hybrid vs. 100% virtual decision. Let’s talk it out, in my traditional mammoth TL/DR form.

Like all of you, I’ve seen my feed become a flood of anxiety and faux expertise. You’ll get no presumption of expertise here. This is how I am looking at and considering this issue and the positions people have taken in my feed and in the hundred or so discussion groups that have popped up. The lead comments in quotes are taken directly from my feed and those boards. Sometimes I try to rationalize them. Sometimes I’m just punching back at the void.

Full disclosure, we initially chose the hybrid option and are now having serious reservations. As I consider the positions and arguments I see in my feed, these are where my mind goes. Of note, when I started working on this piece at 12:19 PM today the COVID death tally in the United States stood at 133,420.

“My kids want to go back to school.”

I challenge that position. I believe what the kids desire is more abstract. I believe what they want is a return to normalcy. They want their idea of yesterday. And yesterday isn’t on the menu.

“I want my child in school so they can socialize.”

This was the principle reason for our decision to choose the hybrid option. As I think more on it though, what do we think ‘social’ will look like? There aren’t going to be any lunch table groups, any lockers, any recess games, any study halls, any sitting next to friends, any talking to people in the hallway, any dances. All of that is off the menu. So, when we say that we want the kids to benefit from the social experience, what are we deluding ourselves into thinking in-building socialization will actually look like in the Fall?

“My kid is going to be left behind.”

Left behind who? The entire country is grappling with the same issue, leaving all children in the same quagmire. Who exactly would they be behind? I believe the rhetorical answer to that is “They’ll be behind where they should be,” to which I’ll counter that “where they should be” is a fictional goal post that we as a society have taken as gospel because it maps to standardized tests which are used to grade schools and counties as they chase funding.

“Classrooms are safe.”

At the current distancing guidelines from the middle and high schools would have no more than 12 people (teachers + students) in a classroom (I acknowledge this number may change as schools considers the state’s 3 ft with a mask vs. 6 ft position, noting that our schools are all mask regardless of the distance). For the purpose of this discussion we’ll say classes run 45 minutes.

I posed the following question to 40 people today, representing professional and management roles in corporations, government agencies, and military commands: “Would your company or command have a 12 person, 45 minute meeting in a conference room?”

100% of them said no, they would not. These are some of their answers:

“No. Until further notice we are on Zoom.”
“(Our company) doesn’t allow us in (company space).”
“Oh hell no.”
“No absolutely not.”
“Is there a percentage lower than zero?”
“Something of that size would be virtual.”

We do not even consider putting our office employees into the same situation we are contemplating putting our children into. And let’s drive this point home: there are instances here when commanding officers will not put soldiers, ACTUAL SOLDIERS, into the kind of indoor environment we’re contemplating for our children. For me this is as close to a ‘kill shot’ argument as there is in this entire debate. How do we work from home because buildings with recycled air are not safe, because we don’t trust other people to not spread the virus, and then with the same breath send our children into buildings?

“Children only die .0016 of the time.”

First, conceding we’re an increasingly morally bankrupt society, but when did we start talking about children’s lives, or anyone’s lives, like this? This how the villain in movies talks about mortality, usually 10-15 minutes before the good guy kills him.

If you’re in this camp, and I acknowledge that many, many people are, I’m asking you to consider that number from a slightly different angle.

Our school system has 189,000 children. .0016 of that is 302. 302 dead children are the hill you’re erecting your argument on. So, let’s agree to do this: stop presenting this as a data point. If this is your argument, I challenge you to have courage equal to your conviction. Go ahead, plant a flag on the internet and say, “Only 302 children will die.” No one will. That’s the kind action on social media that gets you fired from your job. And I trust our social media enclave isn’t so careless and irresponsible with life that it would even, for even a millisecond, enter any of your minds to make such an argument.

Considered another way: You’re presented with a bag with 189,000 $1 bills. You’re told that in the bag are 302 random bills, they look and feel just like all the others, but each one of those bills will kill you. Do you take the money out of the bag?

Same argument, applied to the 12,487 teachers in our system (per Wikipedia), using the ‘children’s multiplier’ of .0016 (all of us understanding the adult mortality rate is higher). That’s 20 teachers. That’s the number you’re talking about. It’s very easy to sit behind a keyboard and diminish and dismiss the risk you’re advocating other people assume. Take a breath and think about that.

If you want to advocate for the hybrid option, look, I’m looking for someone to convince me. But please, for the love of God, drop things like this from your argument. Because the people I know who’ve said things like this, I know they’re better people than this. They’re good people under incredible stress who let things slip out as their frustration boils over. So, please do the right thing and move on from this, because one potential outcome is that one day, you’re going to have to stand in front of St. Peter and answer for this, and that’s not going to be conversation you enjoy.

“Hardly any kids get COVID.”

(Deep sigh) Yes, that is statistically true as of this writing. But it is a cherry-picked argument because you’re leaving out an important piece.

One can reasonably argue that, due to the school closures in March, children have had the least EXPOSURE to COVID. In other words, closing schools was the one pandemic mitigation action we took that worked. There can be no discussion of the rate of diagnosis within children without also acknowledging they were among our fastest and most quarantined people. Put another way, you cannot cite the effect without acknowledging the cause.

“The flu kills more people every year.”

(Deep sigh). First of all, no, it doesn’t. Per the CDC, United States flu deaths average 20,000 annually. COVID, when I start writing here today, has killed 133,420 in six months.

And when you mention the flu, do you mean the disease that, if you’re suspected of having it, everyone, literally everyone in the country tells you stay the f- away from other people? You mean the one where parents are pretty sure their kids have it but send them to school anyway because they have a meeting that day, the one that every year causes massive f-ing outbreaks in schools because schools are petri dishes and it causes kids to miss weeks of school and leaves them out of sports and band for a month? That one? Because you’re right - the flu kills people every year. It does, but you’re ignoring the why. It’s because there are people who are assholes who don’t care about infecting other people. In that regard it’s a perfect comparison to COVID.

“Almost everyone recovers.”

You’re confusing “release from the hospital” and “no longer infected” with “recovered.” I’m fortunate to only know two people who have had COVID. One my age and one my dad’s age. The one my age described it as “absolute hell” and although no longer infected cannot breathe right. The one my dad’s age was in the hospital for 13 weeks, had to have a trach ring put in because she could no longer be on a ventilator, and upon finally getting home and being faced with incalculable time in rehab told my mother, “I wish I had died.”

While I’m making every effort to reach objectivity, on this particular point, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

“If people get sick, they get sick.”

First, you mistyped. What you intended to say was “If OTHER people get sick, they get sick.” And shame on you.

“I’m not going to live my life in fear.”

You already live your life in fear. For your health, your family’s health, your job, your retirement, terrorists, extremists, one political party or the other being in power, the new neighbors, an unexpected home repair, the next sunrise. What you meant to say was, “I’m not prepared to add ANOTHER fear,” and I’ve got news for you: that ship has sailed. It’s too late. There are two kinds of people, and only two: those that admit they’re afraid, and those that are lying to themselves about it.

As to the fear argument, fear is the reason you wait up when your kids stay out late, it’s the reason you tell your kids not to dive in the shallow water, to look both ways before crossing the road. Fear is the respect for the wide world that we teach our children. Except in this instance, for reasons no one has been able to explain to me yet.

“School leadership sucks.”

I will summarize my view of the School Board thusly: if the 12 of you aren’t getting into a room together because it represents a risk, don’t tell me it’s OK for our kids. I understand your arguments, that we need the hybrid option for parents who can’t work from home, kids who don’t have internet or computer access, kids who needs meals from the school system, kids who need extra support to learn, and most tragically for kids who are at greater risk of abuse by being home. All very serious, all very real issues, all heartbreaking. No argument.

But you must first lead by example. Because you’re failing when it comes to optics. All your meetings are online. What our children see is all of you on a Zoom telling them it’s OK for them to be exactly where you aren’t. I understand you’re not PR people, but you really should think about hiring some.

“I talked it over with my kids.”

Let’s put aside for a moment the concept of adults effectively deferring this decision to children, the same children who will continue to stuff things into a full trash can rather than empty it out. Yes, those hygienic children.

Listen, my 15 year old daughter wants a sport car, which she’s not getting next year because it would be dangerous to her and to others. Those kinds of decisions are our job. We step in and decide as parents, we don’t let them expose themselves to risks because their still developing and screen addicted brains narrow their understanding of cause and effect.

We as parents and adults serve to make difficult decisions. Sometimes those are in the form of lessons, where we try to steer kids towards the right answer and are willing to let them make a mistake in the hopes of teaching better decision making the next time around. This is not one of those moments. The stakes are too high for that. This is a “the adults are talking” moment. Kids are not mature enough for this moment. That is not an attack on your child. It is a broad statement about all children. It is true of your children and it was true when we were children. We need to be doing that thinking here, and “Johnny wants to see Bobby at school” cannot be the prevailing element in the equation.

“The teachers need to do their job.”

How is it that the same society which abruptly shifted to virtual students only three months ago, and offered glowing endorsements of teachers stating, “we finally understand how difficult your job is,” has now shifted to “screw you, do your job.” There are myriad problems with that position but for the purposes of this piece let’s simply go with, “You’re not looking for a teacher, you’re looking for the babysitter you feel your property tax payment entitles you to.”

“Teachers have a greater chance to being killed by a car than they do of dying from COVID.”

(Eye roll) Per the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the U.S. see approximately 36,000 auto fatalities a year. Again, there have been 133,420 COVID deaths in the United States through 12:09 July 10, 2020. So no, they do not have a great chance of being killed in a car accident.

And, if you want to take the actual environment into consideration, the odds of a teacher being killed in a car accident in their classroom, you know, the environment we’re actually talking about, that’s right around 0%.

“If the grocery store workers can be onsite what are the teachers afraid of?”

(Deep breath) A grocery store worker, who absolutely risks exposure, has either six feet of space or a plexiglass shield between them and individual adult customers who can grasp their own mortality whose transactions can be completed in moments, in a 40,000 SF space.

A teacher is with 11 ‘customers’ who have not an inkling what mortality is, for 45 minutes, in a 675 SF space, six times a day.

Just stop.

“Teachers are choosing remote because they don’t want to work.”

(Deep breaths) Many teachers are opting to be remote. That is not a vacation. They’re requesting to do their job at a safer site. Just like many, many people who work in buildings with recycled air have done. And likely the building you’re not going into has a newer and better serviced air system than our schools.

Of greater interest to me is the number of teachers choosing the 100% virtual option for their children. The people who spend the most time in the buildings are the same ones electing not to send their children into those buildings. That’s something I pay attention to.

“I wasn’t prepared to be a parent 24/7” and “I just need a break.”

I truly, deeply respect that honesty. Truth be told, both arguments have crossed my mind. Pre COVID, I routinely worked from home 1 – 2 days a week. The solace was nice. When I was in the office, I had an actual office, a room with a door I could close, where I could focus. During the quarantine that hasn’t always been the case. I’ve been frustrated, I’ve been short, I’ve gone to just take a drive and get the hell away for a moment and been disgusted when one of the kids sees me and asks me to come for a ride, robbing me of those minutes of silence. You want to hear silence. I get it. I really, really do.

Here’s another version of that, admittedly extreme. What if one of our kids becomes one of the 302? What’s that silence going to sound like? What if you have one of those matted frames where you add the kid’s school picture every year? What if you don’t get to finish the pictures?

“What does your gut tell you to do?”

My husband and I have talked ad infinitum about all of these and other points. Two days ago, at mid-discussion I said, “Stop, right now, gut answer, what is it,” and we both said, “virtual.”

A lot of the arguments I hear people making for the hybrid option sound like we’re trying to talk ourselves into ignoring our instincts, they are almost exclusively, “We’re doing hybrid, but…”. There’s a fantastic book by Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear, which I’ll minimize for you thusly: your gut instinct is a hardwired part of your brain and you should listen to it. In the introduction he talks about elevators, and how, of all living things, humans are the only ones that would voluntarily get into a soundproof steel box with a potential predator just so they could skip a flight of stairs.

I keep thinking that the hybrid option is the soundproof steel box. I welcome, damn, beg, anyone to convince me otherwise.

At the time I started writing at 12:09 PM, 133,420 Americans had died from COVID. Upon completing this draft at 7:04 PM, that number rose to 133,940.

520 Americans died of COVID while I was working on this. In seven hours.

The length of a school day.

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20396]

We shouldn't be telling the anti-maskers that the mask stops Covid but rather that it stops facial recognition used the 5G government skynet from tracking you and also helps with the damage that chemtrails do to your body. 

[washparkhorn 9939]

1 hour ago, Bama Chick said:

At the time I started writing at 12:09 PM, 133,420 Americans had died from COVID. Upon completing this draft at 7:04 PM, that number rose to 133,940.

Well written and persuasive. Thanks for sharing it BC. Very helpful.

[justhookit 4191]

4 hours ago, lemonlime said:

If you're president, and you wanted to kill as many Americans as possible, what would you do differently than trump has done?  His actions have demonstrably made the situation worse.  This is what a president would do if he were trying to kill people.  Hell, even if there was no federal government, we'd be better off today.

Do nothing about invoking the Defense Production Act while interfering in the sales of PPE and ventilators, making the states bid against each other.

Encourage your followers to not take the most basic steps to prevent spreading (masks), while encouraging states, businesses, and schools to open up without adequate testing, PPE, or contact tracing.

Try to take health insurance away from millions, while many are out of work.

Sideline the experts.

Hold nonsense, incoherent press conferences filled with misinformation.

 

If his goal was trying to kill people he would have done something else which would have backfired on him and actually helped. He’s maybe the most incompetent person I’ve ever seen. Handle covid correctly and he had this election basically handed to him on a platter. He’s fucked now and panicking and I bet we see someone like Fauci come out and publicly crucify him soon. It’s overdue. I can’t stand the fact that we have someone with the intellect and maturity of a 5th grader leading this country.