#school reopenings

[justsomeantifas]

If we forced schools closed & said 'hey everybody gets a gap year that doesn't go on your record at all congrats' that would be a way of actually starting to address the increased inequality via covid on education.

But instead, since people assume apriori "we're powerless to force anything on a society-wide scale," that all we can do is "try and make the best choice between a murderous rock & an also-murderous hard place - maybe throw a pillow on top of the murderous hard place then it won't be so hard never thought abt that didjya"

[hitmonvers]

Close. The. Schools. Now.

[contemplatingoutlander]

A School Reopens, and the Coronavirus Creeps In

As more schools abandon plans for in-person classes, one that opened in Indiana this week had to quarantine students within hours.

“Just hours into the first day of classes on Thursday, a call from the county health department notified Greenfield Central Junior High School in Indiana that a student who had walked the halls and sat in various classrooms had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“Administrators began an emergency protocol, isolating the student and ordering everyone who had come into close contact with the person, including other students, to quarantine for 14 days. It is unclear whether the student infected anyone else.”

[emphasis added]

You just know this is going to be happening in schools throughout the U.S. in the next few weeks. No schools should be opening in areas that haven’t gotten virus levels sufficiently under control.

It’s like the Marx Brothers are running the country and we wonder why there is utter chaos. 

[tittyinfinity]

Living in this part of America almost makes it seem like getting the virus is inevitable no matter what you do because EVERYONE ELSE is acting like it doesn't exist and doesn't care how fast it spreads around

All the theme parks in Branson are opening. Silver Dollar City is running a bunch of ads to get people to come. Branson has an extremely high rate of COVID.

Lake of the Ozarks, about an hour away, went viral for having that extremely crowded pool party.

Go to walmart? You'll see like, 4 people out of the 200 people in the store wearing one. And I'll be one of those 4.

All my friends who work in restaurants keep talking about how large groups keep coming in with no masks and how business is actually BOOMING because people are going out "out of spite"

I am on disability and when my pain meds are lowering my pain I watch my friends' kids while they work because all the daycares are closed, but that also means I'm coming into contact with people who work all day with people who don't care at all about spreading the virus

My city JUST came out with an ordinance to enforce masks and you STILL see people going into places with no masks, and if anyone dare confront them, all hell breaks loose.

And now they're reopening the schools and expect people to send their young children to public school like kindergarteners are gonna be able to keep a mask on all day or social distance. And people are getting mad because they're only opening up the school for 3 days a week. And since everyone has to work and no other childcare alternative is offered, guess how many kids are gonna be at school against their parents' will!

For once in my life I almost feel lucky to be disabled so I can homeschool my son. Before my disabilities hit me too hard I was active in child development, working in daycares, teaching sunday school (before I left the religion), taking classes for it, etc. So AT LEAST I have that - but this isn't just gonna be me homeschooling my son. I'm the only one out of ALL MY FRIENDS who doesn't work, which means I'm probably going to be homeschooling ALL OF THEM because they haven't found any alternatives yet either. And idk how im gonna handle that this fall.

I'm just so scared dude

[justsomeantifas]

Yes poor kids will be most affected by virtual learning. poor kids will also be most affected by forced school reopenings.

Under Austerity Capitalism, there is only one Lever that Capital can pull, and that Lever is labelled “fuck over the poor” - its been pulled so many times though that the sharpie label is smudged & faded.

[justsomeantifas]

If you're sending us messages abt being forced back to school, right now would be the easiest time to stage a student walkout, & if you can manage to get teachers on board that will become much more effective.

Stay safe, stay brave.

[thoughtlessarse]

As child cases soar, Brazilian scientist warns of “creating a generation” with long-term COVID effects

A recent study led by Lucas Ferrante, a prominent Brazilian scientist opposing Bolsonaro’s herd immunity policy, shows that reopening school

A month and a half after the widest reopening of schools in Brazil since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are clear indications that the novel coronavirus is infecting growing numbers of children, along with reports in the Brazilian media of COVID-19 child deaths. This coincides with the spread of the more infectious Delta variant throughout the country, accounting now for 62.4 percent of cases.

For infected children who survive, the damage could be disastrous. In an interview with the World Socialist Web Site, Lucas Ferrante, a researcher at the renowned National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), warned, “We are creating a generation” that will suffer multiple known and unknown effects from COVID-19.

Although Brazil is recording a drop in the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19, on September 15 it had 793 deaths and 14,780 new cases, figures that represent a major underestimation of the real situation. In total, the country has recorded 590,000 deaths—second only to the United States—and more than 21 million cases.

continue reading

[thoughtlessarse]

As French schools reopen, minister scolds Covid-19 ‘obsessed’ critics, but teachers are wary

France’s secondary schools reopened on Monday after a four-week break to stem the tide of Covid-19 infections. Some new preventative efforts have been deployed for the restart of classes, but critics…

France’s secondary schools reopened on Monday after a four-week break to stem the tide of Covid-19 infections. Some new preventative efforts have been deployed for the restart of classes, but critics say more must be done to secure schools lest the reopenings send cases, which remain high in France, climbing sharply again. The country's education minister, for his part, says people should stop “obsessing" over the risks of contagion at school.

Speaking at a high school in a small town outside Nancy in northeastern France as it reopened on Monday morning, Prime Minister Jean Castex assured those assembled that "the virus is circulating very little" in schools. "Between the risks, including the possible health hazards, of keeping schools closed and the risks of reopening them, the balance tipped very largely in favour of opening schools," Castex explained.

After priding himself on keeping France's schools open in February despite the repeated warnings of healthcare professionals, President Emmanuel Macron finally shut them down on April 6 as a third wave, largely fuelled by the British variant, forced his hand. The school closure was the signature measure of France's third nationwide lockdown – along with a post-Easter ban on travelling between regions and the closure of many non-essential shops.

continue reading

My niece has already returned to teaching primary school kids in Paris and one of my sisters, who has MS and has just recovered from covid works with them. The chances are that she caught it from the kids so the lie about the virus “circulating very little” in schools is just that. Infected kids are more likely to be asymptomatic and the low number of lateral flow tests will not remove the risk when not enough children are tested and up to 10% will give a false positive.

I think it will be found that the Macron’s refusal to close schools was a strong driver of the third wave France as was his belated third national lockdown which is being lifted despite the high infection numbers that show little sign of declining.