Government Response to Coronavirus 5: We're On Our Own

[GreyhoundFan]

What good is a crisis if twitler's family and friends can't benefit?

 

[47of74]

The Des Moines Register has suggested to school districts they ignore #CovidKim

Quote

As Reynolds insists on in-person instruction, Iowa school districts' best choice may be: Ignore her

What is Reynolds going to do if a school district does not comply with her terms for reopening? A Register editorial writer asked the Iowa Department of Education.

“If there is a case where a district chooses not to comply, the district should be cited for noncompliance with state law and referred to the State Board of Education if it does not correct the citations in a timely manner,” said spokesperson Heather Doe.  

Then what? Sanction a superintendent? Close down a school district? 

Yeah she's too busy kissing  Orange Fuckopotomus #BunkerBitch ASS to worry about our children so the school districts may have to do what's best on their own here and ignore #CovidKim.   I am totally down with that.

[Ozlsn]

6 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Fucking hell we probably wouldn’t even have 100 deaths if she had been in charge. 

And Fuckmuppet is upset over getting called out over the fucked up pandemic response 

 

I would assume 100 at least. Australia has over that, and we only have about 28 million, are a large island continent and have a lot fewer large centres of population. We shut travel to and quarantined people arriving from China, Japan and South Korea in March, and Italy/US shortly after. Locked down in late March. There was community spread in WA, CO, CA, NY at least by that point - the outbreak could have been contained, the CDC enabled and the supplies fast tracked to areas as needed in a federally coordinated manner, but just through sheer weight of population I think it would have been more than 100.

And of course Hillary would have had to deal with all the "anyone but her" mob, some of whom would undoubtedly have gone out of their way to promote anything against what she, or her government said.

Tl;dr: it would have been a crapload better managed and coordinated at the top, particularly at the top levels, but there still would have been a lot of cases and deaths, and the idiot Governors who refused to shut down/wear masks etc would still have done so, but framed it differently. Florida is pretty screwed in both timelines.

3 hours ago, clueliss said:

What the ever living hell, Kansas?

 

WTAF????? Seriously, WTAF?!?!?!

I would put a clause in the opt out document saying "I agree that in the event of becoming sick with coronavirus I consent to not be resuscitated, and to cover medical expenses for any cases traced back to being infected by me" and let them have it.

Either that or "I consent to weekly testing, at my expense".

Why the hell do they not understand that if they want to stop this virus spreading and return to some degree of normal then contact tracing and testing are absolutely essential? 

[GreyhoundFan]

Gee, more repug shenanigans with Covid relief funds. No surprise.

 

[Ozlsn]

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Gee, more repug shenanigans with Covid relief funds. No surprise.

 

I still really want to see a full audit of this program under a hopefully new administration, with several of the worst prosecuted fully to encourage the others to come forward to say that funds might have been received "in error" and to offer to pay them back. With interest.

[SassyPants]

I worked in critical care for 35 years so I know what pain, suffering, shock, DIC and respiratory failure look like, and have never wished illness or suffering on anyone, but damn, I truly believe that some of these folks will not understand the severity of this pandemic unless they or their close circle are infected and sicker than dogs.

On another online site there are many pages of people talking about how we have screwed up an entire generation of kids d/t having virtual school for some months, and they agree parents should start suing school districts. WTELF (what the ever loving f...) Grow up. I wonder how kids who have survived horrific atrocities coped? 
 

Oh and don’t even bring up masks. They want full school, no SD or masks required. I just can’t with some people. They walk amongst us.

[Ozlsn]

9 hours ago, SassyPants said:

On another online site there are many pages of people talking about how we have screwed up an entire generation of kids d/t having virtual school for some months, and they agree parents should start suing school districts. WTELF (what the ever loving f...) Grow up. I wonder how kids who have survived horrific atrocities coped? 

Seriously - how did we (North America/Europe/Asia/Africa) get through WW2, FFS? How did/do kids cope with having education disrupted fully for literally years due to war etc.? There are some people I just cannot understand where the hell they are coming from. They're still doing school, just not in person. Geez.

[Ali]

3 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

Seriously - how did we (North America/Europe/Asia/Africa) get through WW2, FFS? How did/do kids cope with having education disrupted fully for literally years due to war etc.? There are some people I just cannot understand where the hell they are coming from. They're still doing school, just not in person. Geez.

I am concerned about the social and emotional impact on my children, but I am still trying to make sure we social distance as much as possible.

My four year old is creating more and more imaginary friends as this goes on. I keep telling myself he is going to be okay. It breaks my heart that we will not be registering him for preschool and instead be sending him to my MIL during the day when school starts. I am a teacher and my husband works full time, so he has to go somewhere during the day.

I hate the decision my husband and I have to make regarding my fifth graders schooling. Our district has two options. There is in person where they have to wear masks all day long except during lunch, p.e., etc. , keeping kids as far apart as possible, and almost never leaving the classroom. There is more, but that is the general idea. The other options involved her being on the computer for practically the entire school day. It seems like they are trying to incorporate more social interaction on the computer. It still seems miserable for a child. I really don't want to make this decison.

My daughter did not respond well to homeschooling. She is and extreme extrovert.  It was a struggle everyday. I almost called the pediatrician due to concerns about her mental health, but she improved once school ended. 

I hate that the adults can't just behave and did not do what we needed to do back in February and March.

[SassyPants]

4 minutes ago, Ali said:

I am concerned about the social and emotional impact on my children, but I am still trying to make sure we social distance as much as possible.

My four year old is creating more and more imaginary friends as this goes on. I keep telling myself he is going to be okay. It breaks my heart that we will not be registering him for preschool and instead be sending him to my MIL during the day when school starts. I am a teacher and my husband works full time, so he has to go somewhere during the day.

I hate the decision my husband and I have to make regarding my fifth graders schooling. Our district has two options. There is in person where they have to wear masks all day long except during lunch, p.e., etc. , keeping kids as far apart as possible, and almost never leaving the classroom. There is more, but that is the general idea. The other options involved her being on the computer for practically the entire school day. It seems like they are trying to incorporate more social interaction on the computer. It still seems miserable for a child. I really don't want to make this decison.

My daughter did not respond well to homeschooling. She is and extreme extrovert.  It was a struggle everyday. I almost called the pediatrician due to concerns about her mental health, but she improved once school ended. 

I hate that the adults can't just behave and did not do what we needed to do back in February and March.

This is exactly it. And I’m frightened as to what people might do if and/or when there are breakouts in schools? I worry so much about the lack of coping skills in the parent group and how that might affect kids. I truly believe if there is going to be school at all (and maybe there should not be), in-school attendance should be prioritized for children of essential workers, and everyone else should be working from home, parents included. I’ve mentioned my daughter who is a secondary school principal. She is taking a LOA, she tried to resign but the district offered a leave and she took it. After last year, having to teach a full load d/t Covid related illness, administrate and virtually school her own kindergartner, she was in an unhealthy zone. It sucks, and there is zero palatable solution. I don’t even know how much time out of the school day will be dedicated to classroom hygiene. I feel for the teachers. Nothing like working in a Petrie dish.

[Ali]

9 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

I don’t even know how much time out of the school day will be dedicated to classroom hygiene. I feel for the teachers. Nothing like working in a Petrie dish.

I did not even get into my concerns as a teacher. I teach high school math. I am not looking forward to disinfecting my classroom between every class. Who is going to be buying the cleaning supplies? And what about supplies such as rulers, protractors, and compasses? How much classroom time will be dedicated to cleaning? Not many districts are one-to-one technology.

Edited August 2, 2020 by Ali

[SassyPants]

41 minutes ago, Ali said:

I did not even get into my concerns as a teacher. I teach high school math. I am not looking forward to disinfecting my classroom between every class. Who is going to be buying the cleaning supplies? And what about the supplies? Supplies such as rulers, protractors, and compasses, etc. Not many districts are one-to-one technology.

I truly believe teachers and the schools can not win here. No matter what, they are going to be found at fault. If we had only done what other countries did at the beginning, we might not be here now. Right off the bat our national church organization, UUA, said no in-person service until June 2021, at the earliest. We all needed better leadership, direction and co-ordinated efforts from the top. Instead we got partisan politics.

Edited August 2, 2020 by SassyPants

[Pleiades_06]

1 hour ago, SassyPants said:

school attendance should be prioritized for children of essential workers

Special education and language learners should be prioritized too, as well as any at risk populations.

[WiseGirl]

12 minutes ago, Pleiades_06 said:

Special education

Which is why I shall be in 4 days of the week. I'm trying to come up with a suitable wardrobe that can withstand extremely hot rooms (no fans allowed), daily washing, which 2 pairs of shoes I shall sacrifice (they won't come into the house), poor ventilation in the school, social distancing, masks on, eating, shortened in person classes, plus teaching online, the 8 days of professional development we have before school (how the hell is that going to work) and everything else I haven't even thought of.

This is going to suck. Wait I'm supposed to put on a happy face about it. 

[SassyPants]

1 hour ago, WiseGirl said:

Which is why I shall be in 4 days of the week. I'm trying to come up with a suitable wardrobe that can withstand extremely hot rooms (no fans allowed), daily washing, which 2 pairs of shoes I shall sacrifice (they won't come into the house), poor ventilation in the school, social distancing, masks on, eating, shortened in person classes, plus teaching online, the 8 days of professional development we have before school (how the hell is that going to work) and everything else I haven't even thought of.

This is going to suck. Wait I'm supposed to put on a happy face about it. 

I am a retired ICU nurse. My family is filled with first responders, paramedics, police and fire personnel. We also have several teachers in the mix. My husband worked in the grocery industry for 40 years and now works for a food manufacturer, so he is essential. I feel for the retail workers and teachers. THEY did NOT sign up to be infection control officers or health care workers. People need to really take a step back and think about that. In some professions you know going in, that you might get exposed to deadly pathogens, others not so much. I am so shocked at the lack of empathy in so, so many people- it’s disgusting.

[SassyPants]

Something else just came to my mind in terms of schools. Years ago when my kids were in Catholic elementary school, I was the school’s  volunteer nurse. On my days off from work, I spent a fair amount of time in the office, working on records, passing out meds to the kids etc... There was a sick bed in the office, and it was occupied quite a bit. One little boy was there more than most others. He was the son of our good friends and my own son’s best friend. He was a horrible asthmatic and tired much of the time. He was napping in that bed. His parents, our good friends, had busy jobs and 3 little kids and were virtually unable/willing to pick him up during the day. I imagine schools meeting in person  are going to be hyper vigilant about any sort of illness with COVID in communities. I remember asking the school’s secretary about these sick kids, and she told me “you know which you can call and get a response and which parents it’s just a waste of time.” Parents are going to have to adapt a bit.

[47of74]

8 hours ago, WiseGirl said:

Which is why I shall be in 4 days of the week. I'm trying to come up with a suitable wardrobe that can withstand extremely hot rooms (no fans allowed), daily washing, which 2 pairs of shoes I shall sacrifice (they won't come into the house), poor ventilation in the school, social distancing, masks on, eating, shortened in person classes, plus teaching online, the 8 days of professional development we have before school (how the hell is that going to work) and everything else I haven't even thought of.

This is going to suck. Wait I'm supposed to put on a happy face about it. 

When I went to high school the schools did not have air condition even though it was designed for it (last minute cost saving measure).  It was absolutely fornicating miserable during the first and last month of school there because most of the windows could not be opened in the school.  Just some slats that were put in to compensate.  It got so hot a few times inside they dismissed early because it was getting too hot in the building for student safety.  And in the winter you'd just about freeze in most of the school but could fry a goddamn egg on the heaters near the administrative offices.

The school board at the time's answer to people's concerns about conditions in the school was: (a) that teachers and students were all spoiled; and (b) we should go fornicate ourselves.   What really pissed people off was that the administrative offices (principal, nurse, counselors, etc) were all air conditioned.  About ten years after I graduated the school was pretty heavily remodeled and air conditioning was finally put in. 

The school board we had back then would probably have no issue with the kids going back to school and would probably be falling over each other to agree with Fuck Face and #CovidKim about the need to send kids back to school.  They didn't really give two warm shits about the students.  Or if they did it sure as hell didn't look like it to most of us.

 

[Ozlsn]

12 hours ago, Ali said:

The other options involved her being on the computer for practically the entire school day.

That is really unhelpful. From our experience last term trying to get primary age kids to exactly replicate a full school day at home is pointless. This term (our second of remote learning) the schools have kind of relaxed a bit, and it's more daily check ins, worksheets and help available if you need it via email/zoom. They're encouraging play, and creative projects (well, the three schools I know about are). There's targets (more as you go up the grade levels) and kids are encouraged to keep a routine, but they're not on a computer the entire time. 

There also seems to be a bit more "what are people likely to actually have at hand?" science projects, as some last term required some entertaining random objects.

11 hours ago, SassyPants said:

I truly believe if there is going to be school at all (and maybe there should not be), in-school attendance should be prioritized for children of essential workers, and everyone else should be working from home, parents included

That's pretty much what we're doing. Children of essential workers, at-risk/vulnerable children are at school. Children with additional needs were, but we're not sure after yesterday's lock down changes - it may be essential workers only again.  It's not ideal, and I am really, really hoping this new, more stringent lock down works so the kids can all go back to school, even if we keep working from home.

[CTRLZero]

From the same county that gave us this:  Sheriff calls mask wearers "sheep" -
 

Quote

 

“In case you guys didn’t hear, Gov. Inslee, in his infinite wisdom, has decided after over 100-some-odd days, that we should all wear face masks, inside and out,” [Sheriff] Snaza said through a bullhorn.

“Here’s what I say, don’t be a sheep,” Snaza advised the cheering throng, before handing the bullhorn to a man whose face was covered.

 

Not surprisingly, the confirmed cases of COVID-19 have greatly increased, leading to this:  Health Dept. Order - Lewis County, WA

Quote

Lewis County Public Health & Social Services (LCPHSS) Health Officer Dr. Rachel Wood has issued a new sporting events Health Officer Order. The new order states, “No indoor or outdoor sporting events, including but not limited to individual, double, round robin, tournament, or conference games, involving participants of any age who reside outside of Lewis County shall be conducted in Lewis County until further notice.”

But wait, there's more.   (No link, this is paraphrased info from my husband's golf league.)

My husband, who helps run golf tournaments, received a phone call that a tournament in progress was interrupted by the prosecutor's office (or was it the sheepish sheriff, unclear) serving a cease-and-desist order on the golf club owners and players.  The public health order threatened fines and potential jail time if players weren't off the course as soon as served.  Needless to say, the two upcoming tournaments my husband is involved in have been canceled. 

Although I know the various sports leagues try their best to make things safe, I'm sure the public health authorities are getting frustrated with the number of anti-mask, virus denial attitudes present in their community.  Anyway, that cease-and-desist order sure made it real for a lot of duffers!  My husband has been grumpy today... 

[47of74]

Now Chuckie complains...

Ugh. 

[GreyhoundFan]

In other words, if elected, I'll be an adult...

[47of74]

The Waukee, Iowa (suburban Des Moines) school district to #CovidKim: Fornicate You

Quote

The Board of Education of the Waukee Community School District (WCSD) and the Superintendent do not agree with the guidance stated in the Governor’s Press Conference on July 30 and released by the Iowa Department of Health (IDPH) and Department of Education (IDOE) regarding the transmission rate levels that would allow a district to transition to 100% online learning.

For this reason, the WCSD Board of Education, nor the Superintendent, will not be following the guidance set forth on July 30. We will not request permission from the IDOE to temporarily change our learning model should the need arise.

They even pointed out the parts of Iowa code that gives school districts some ability to say fornicate you to the state, such as here. 

[47of74]

#CovidKim showing who she's loyal to again

Quote

Gov. Reynolds said schools that do not return to in-person learning at least half the time are violating state law.

This comes after Rolling Green Elementary in Urbandale recently said it would go forward with online-only classes, and more than 250 educators at the University of Iowa are calling for online-only instruction.

Reynolds said schools days won’t count for instructional time if they do not follow the 50 percent in-person requirement.

 

[JMarie]

6 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

In other words, if elected, I'll be an adult...

And I truly doubt Biden will waste energy thinking of stupid nicknames for those who disagree with him.

[47of74]

19 minutes ago, JMarie said:

And I truly doubt Biden will waste energy thinking of stupid nicknames for those who disagree with him.

Nope.  That's our job!

 

[WiseGirl]

"It is what is" 45 strikes again! Asshole.