Virus July 13, 2020
July 13, 2020
It has now been 4 months since we left school due to the corona virus, COVID-19. We taught remotely until the last day of school. Massachusetts deaths and positive cases have steadily decreased so we are now in Phase 3, which means more things are open, but we are still being strongly advised to stay home mostly, social distance 6 feet when out, and wear a mask when you can't social distance. Outside is better than inside. What have we learned? We have learned that, mostly- the outside being better than inside where airborne virus particles can stay in the air. We have learned this is not a respiratory virus, but more vascular- it affects all organs of the body. Clots are found throughout the body when autopsies are done. It is still mostly older people who die. Children still don't seem to be very sick with this, although there are some cases where they have severe swelling of feet and hands, etc. Something called Cytokenesis can also happen in healthy people, which means the immune system over reacts, and this can lead to greater sickness and even death. We have learned that surfaces still contain the virus, but this is probably not the major mode of transmission.
David was sick earlier in the week with a fever (he still has this), and abdominal soreness, a strange over production of saliva, headache and vague head fogginess, and greater than usual fatigue. He was tested twice and was negative twice and seems to be feeling better. So probably not COVID but odd that he would get something during this time of relative isolation.
David has started going into the grocery store for our groceries. So we are beginning to do things that we were worried about doing just weeks ago. We socially distance visited Laurie a couple of times. The girls have had socially distance get togethers with friends a couple of times.
In the meantime, there has been a push to go back to full time school in the fall, and many teachers including myself are somewhat in disbelief. While the recommendations for the public are 6 feet distancing, masks, and stay out of poorly ventilated buildings as much as possible, and continue to ramp of testing so the virus can be traced, it has somewhat inexplicably been decided that the distance for school is 3 feet, k and 1 students are not required to wear masks, testing is not required, and of course our building is not well ventilated at all, as is the case for most school buildings. I really hope we slow down and think this through a little more. The argument is children do not seem to transmit the virus as easily, although it doesn't seem to be based on extensive peer reviewed research, but rather anecdotal studies- I could be wrong on that, but I don't see how much research can have been done when most schools have been shut down and this is a new virus. But parents need to get back to work and children need to socialize- this is the argument. Also, they are falling behind. My argument back is pay the parents to stay home when possible, think up other ways to socialize, and falling behind? that's ridiculous- where a child is in their learning is a social construct. We haven't even assessed the children yet. Yes, there is probably a good chance they have fallen behind, but we are living through a pandemic. Take a breath and let's work to keep people alive.
We still can't convince many people to wear masks, and testing is no where near where it needs to be to have a good handle on where the virus is. When these things happen maybe we can talk about going back to school. But I would also argue that the general guidelines for the public should be the same for school and that masks should be mandatory, we should be tested regularly to check for spread, and distances should be 6 feet apart.
What does it say about us as a country that we have the highest percentage of deaths and cases in the world. We don't have masks available for everyone, and we don't have testing near where it needs to be. We do have a president who refuses to wear a mask and he gets mad that we are testing too much, because the more testing you do, he says, the more cases you find, and that makes us look bad. He is essentially killing people.
What does it say about us as a county of supposed innovation and imagination and ability to do anything we set our minds to, that we can't reimagine what education and schools should look like right now in this unprecedented time.
Anthony Fauci continues to be the main health care expert to listen to, and therefore the president has decided to stop talking to him and he is not allowed on major news shows on television. Why? He speaks the truth. Cases are rising in our country. We have 60,000 new cases a day now. We still don't have enough personal protective equipment for health care people. This doesn't bode well for teachers when we have to go back to school.
The two hopeful things are these:
1. We are learning how to better address the virus with different medical approaches and medicines. More lives are being saved.
2. Even Anthony Fauci is hopeful that one or more vaccines will be approved possibly as early as the beginning of 2021.
In the meantime people still get very, very sick with this, and symptoms for many are lingering for months.
It has now been 4 months since we left school due to the corona virus, COVID-19. We taught remotely until the last day of school. Massachusetts deaths and positive cases have steadily decreased so we are now in Phase 3, which means more things are open, but we are still being strongly advised to stay home mostly, social distance 6 feet when out, and wear a mask when you can't social distance. Outside is better than inside. What have we learned? We have learned that, mostly- the outside being better than inside where airborne virus particles can stay in the air. We have learned this is not a respiratory virus, but more vascular- it affects all organs of the body. Clots are found throughout the body when autopsies are done. It is still mostly older people who die. Children still don't seem to be very sick with this, although there are some cases where they have severe swelling of feet and hands, etc. Something called Cytokenesis can also happen in healthy people, which means the immune system over reacts, and this can lead to greater sickness and even death. We have learned that surfaces still contain the virus, but this is probably not the major mode of transmission.
David was sick earlier in the week with a fever (he still has this), and abdominal soreness, a strange over production of saliva, headache and vague head fogginess, and greater than usual fatigue. He was tested twice and was negative twice and seems to be feeling better. So probably not COVID but odd that he would get something during this time of relative isolation.
David has started going into the grocery store for our groceries. So we are beginning to do things that we were worried about doing just weeks ago. We socially distance visited Laurie a couple of times. The girls have had socially distance get togethers with friends a couple of times.
In the meantime, there has been a push to go back to full time school in the fall, and many teachers including myself are somewhat in disbelief. While the recommendations for the public are 6 feet distancing, masks, and stay out of poorly ventilated buildings as much as possible, and continue to ramp of testing so the virus can be traced, it has somewhat inexplicably been decided that the distance for school is 3 feet, k and 1 students are not required to wear masks, testing is not required, and of course our building is not well ventilated at all, as is the case for most school buildings. I really hope we slow down and think this through a little more. The argument is children do not seem to transmit the virus as easily, although it doesn't seem to be based on extensive peer reviewed research, but rather anecdotal studies- I could be wrong on that, but I don't see how much research can have been done when most schools have been shut down and this is a new virus. But parents need to get back to work and children need to socialize- this is the argument. Also, they are falling behind. My argument back is pay the parents to stay home when possible, think up other ways to socialize, and falling behind? that's ridiculous- where a child is in their learning is a social construct. We haven't even assessed the children yet. Yes, there is probably a good chance they have fallen behind, but we are living through a pandemic. Take a breath and let's work to keep people alive.
We still can't convince many people to wear masks, and testing is no where near where it needs to be to have a good handle on where the virus is. When these things happen maybe we can talk about going back to school. But I would also argue that the general guidelines for the public should be the same for school and that masks should be mandatory, we should be tested regularly to check for spread, and distances should be 6 feet apart.
What does it say about us as a country that we have the highest percentage of deaths and cases in the world. We don't have masks available for everyone, and we don't have testing near where it needs to be. We do have a president who refuses to wear a mask and he gets mad that we are testing too much, because the more testing you do, he says, the more cases you find, and that makes us look bad. He is essentially killing people.
What does it say about us as a county of supposed innovation and imagination and ability to do anything we set our minds to, that we can't reimagine what education and schools should look like right now in this unprecedented time.
Anthony Fauci continues to be the main health care expert to listen to, and therefore the president has decided to stop talking to him and he is not allowed on major news shows on television. Why? He speaks the truth. Cases are rising in our country. We have 60,000 new cases a day now. We still don't have enough personal protective equipment for health care people. This doesn't bode well for teachers when we have to go back to school.
The two hopeful things are these:
1. We are learning how to better address the virus with different medical approaches and medicines. More lives are being saved.
2. Even Anthony Fauci is hopeful that one or more vaccines will be approved possibly as early as the beginning of 2021.
In the meantime people still get very, very sick with this, and symptoms for many are lingering for months.
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