Monday, March 22, 2021

NJ NOT DOING MORE REOPENINGS FOR SOME TIME BECAUSE OF COVID 19 VARIANTS; NYC SCHOOLS ASK PARENTS TO OPT IN FOR IN-PERSON LEARNING

 This is from ABC7ny.com this morning:

TRENTON, New Jersey (WABC) -- New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said the state will not be doing any more reopenings "for some time" because of the emerging variants.

"My guess is we won't be opening capacity for some time now because of the caseload," Murphy said on CNN Monday morning.

Further down:

Murphy had cited numbers on Friday that were "still uncomfortably too high," including a daily positivity rate that averages 7% and 2,000 coronavirus patients in hospitals, when explaining why the state has been cautious in its reopening plans.

"We have the same concern," he told CNBC Friday. "We know we've got the New York variant, the UK variant, I guess the Brazil variant. We are part of the same reality a year ago. The densest part of the nation, we are the densest state in the nation, right on top of the New York Metro reality. Invariably, what hits them will hit us and vice versa. So we are watching that all of that very closely."

Dr Scott Gottlieb's warnings on the new variants were covered Sunday by the NYPost:

New York’s homegrown COVID-19 variant may be infecting people who have already had the virus — or even been vaccinated, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration said Sunday.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb said it remains unclear if the COVID-19 variant, known as B.1.526, is driving viral surges in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

“What we don’t understand with 1.526 is whether or not people are being reinfected with it and whether or not people who might have been vaccinated are now getting infected with it,” Gottlieb told CBS anchor Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”

The basic theme is caution. Then, why did I receive an email this morning from NYC Chancellor Meisha Porter asking me to opt my child back into in-person learning?

This is part of her letter:

We are able to offer this additional chance for fully remote students to opt in to learning in buildings because the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidance, allowing us to safely accommodate more students in a classroom.

Caution in NJ because of variants and full speed ahead on school reopening in NYC.

Don't expect new COVID-19 data from NYC today either.



When will we hear from the UFT?


Update: Here are the latest numbers from Jennifer Jennings on NYC school age children with COVID-19.  Note the first number covers four months worth of data.




66 comments:

Anonymous said...

New DOE daily health screening asks us if we have been vaccinated. This is in total violation of health privacy laws and will create a database of which teachers has been vaccinated. Crickets from the UFT.

Anonymous said...

The NY approach is recklessness and ignoring the facts and evidence. The COVID virus and its variants are highly contagious and deadly for some folks.

New Jersey is proceeded with caution since there are so many unknowns.

Anonymous said...

The 6' rule for when the students are unmasked and eating is a piece of the new CDC guidelines. This seems to not be getting any mention from our officials. Many colleagues aren't aware of this either. If we set up classrooms for the new 3 ft rule, how will the students then eat in the same room while maintaining a distance of 6 ft? This question is not being asked, this scenario is not being mentioned.

Anonymous said...

The hell with the two morons meisha and mildew

Anonymous said...

The big question still remains. If the schools can open practically to full capacity, why do NYC offices such as the UFT and TRS remain closed? It's a hell of a lot easier to maintain safe distancing and maintain safe protocols in those offices than it is in schools with hundreds or even thousands of kids.

Anonymous said...

nys health dept says if students are less than 6ft, plastic dividers must be installed.

so i guess this is happening?

Anonymous said...

Can someone site where the NYS Health Department says that kids can eat at 3 feet as long as plastic dividers are used? I could not find any source to this claim. (The CDC does NOT say this is ok) Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Vaccinated people are getting reinfected. But don't worry, mulgrew has your back

https://nypost.com/2021/03/22/vaccinated-hawaii-residents-test-positive-for-covid-19/

Anonymous said...

Why why why? We know the answer. Because they can. You pay the UFT to screw you. They screw you. You pay money. Rinse. Repeat. That’s why.

Anonymous said...

Looks like I missed the $ again. Should have quit DOE and started a plastics busines. O, but I don't have any friends, so of course the DOE will pay 4x what they should tof these new gadgets.

Anonymous said...

"The 6' rule for when the students are unmasked and eating is a piece of the new CDC guidelines. This seems to not be getting any mention from our officials. "

R u kidding me, there was no lunch policy for 6 feet. Forget about 3!

Anonymous said...

Good, where is the spring break money?

Mayor Bill de Blasio
@NYCMayor
With stimulus funding we can officially return money to schools that would be lost to the registration process.

This means more money for teachers and tutoring as we reopen school buildings. Thank you to
@NYCSpeakerCoJo
and the City Council for helping us get this done.

Anonymous said...

Fail the screener daily, allergy season is here. Anyone who’s worked more than a week in the DOE realizes its completely indifferent to everything except appearances. Accept that realization and don’t put your life in danger. It’s March, ride it out till the end of June. If Mulgrew wants schools to open up, then he should get his fat ass back to 52 Broadway! Too risky for him and his cronies, but not for New York City teachers and students. I seriously hope a massive amount of people drop out of the Uft this June. I know it’s wrong, I know it’s vindictive ,but I still hope. Those Unity motherfuckers have to start understanding they are not in charge. Watch how they’ll change their tune.

Anonymous said...

It's in there. It even gets mentioned in one of Mulgrew's emails. "Public spaces.." cafeteria (which the classrooms are twice a day), hallway, and bathrooms. Students are required to be 6 ft apart in these spaces. Do students actually maintain these distances? Is there enforcement by the adults around them? Not always.

Anonymous said...

Social Distancing: Responsible Parties must maintain protocols and procedures for students, faculty, and staff to ensure appropriate social distancing to protect against the transmission of the COVID-19 virus when on school grounds and in school facilities. Specifically, appropriate social distancing means six feet of space in all directions between individuals or use of appropriate physical barriers between individuals that do not adversely affect air flow, heating, cooling, or ventilation, or otherwise present a health or safety risk. If used, physical barriers must be put in place in accordance with United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines, and may include strip curtains, cubicle walls, code compliant materials, or other impermeable divider or partition.

https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/governor.ny.gov/files/atoms/files/Pre-K_to_Grade_12_Schools_MasterGuidance.pdf

Anonymous said...

They make up these CDC guidance rules as they go along. Case in point, the Pfizer vaccine shots were supposed to be given 3 weeks apart, not it’s okay for 4 weeks apart—which hasn’t made Fauci too happy.

Anon said...

Done with Fauci. No mask, one mask, two masks. Biden, we will let you have small gatherings for the 4th of July. Maybe! Fu$k them!

Anonymous said...

DeBlasio’s in the paper James agreeing to everything you wrote concerning the virus and seconding Murphy. He’s saying the Lov Guv is moving too fast. It’s like teachers aren’t even considered human beings. Everyone else’s lives matter. Why does Mulgrew go along with this? Does he realize who he’s working for, or has he become so powerful and corrupt that he knows he’s untouchable from the very people who pay his salary? The problem here is not deBlasio. DeBlasio is of course an nincompoop of astronomical proportions. The real problem here is Mulgrew. Mayors, politicians, the DOE, etc Will always try to get over on their employees - that’s to be expected. What’s not expected is for a union president to comply with each and every request that endangers his members, while he and his toadies remain safely ensconced at home.
Folks really need to get angry and start protesting at UFT headquarters, especially since no one is there. The media may actually ask why.

Anonymous said...

Which school did mulgrew spend the day in today?

ICYMI: Former FDA Commissioner
@ScottGottliebMD
warned Sunday as hospitalizations go down in NYC, the COVID variant B-1526 is concerning

He says it’s unclear whether those with B-1526 are getting reinfected or if they’re getting infected after vaccination https://cbsn.ws/3tY03Pt

Anonymous said...

The daily flip flop...aren't you happy we are paying her and mulgrew

Randi Weingarten
@rweingarten
Kids need to be in school and we’ve advocated for that for almost a year now. We just need to understand how these new guidelines work out in our most hard hit, high-density city schools.

Shelley said...

New cases are down again, down 7% over the last two weeks, deaths from Covid are also down, again, down 38% in the last two weeks. In the USA we had fewer than 45,000 cases yesterday and under 500 deaths. 500, yes, each death is tragic, but we are now at the level of deaths caused by the flue in a any normal year. Kids, young people are not dying from Covid. More are dying from suicide and depression.

These recent numbers are not the numbers that support the kind of fearmongering here.

25% of Americans have received one shot, 14% have received the double shot of vaccines that are nothing short of miraculous. And we are increasing vaccinations.

Come on, get real. We are on our way, and while we should wear masks and wash our hands, we need to get back to buildings and teach.

As far as the Union, the UFT, they are selling us out left and right. But please don't take the disaster, chicken-little view of things. We need to go back to work.

Anonymous said...

Our fearless leader..


https://nypost.com/2021/03/22/de-blasio-welcomes-high-school-students-back/

James Eterno said...

NY-NJ variants are now majority of cases. We hope we vaccinate our way out but now it is still not time to let our guard down.

Anonymous said...

6:02: Give this information to everyone who lost a loved one and to the CEO of Texas Roadhouse who killed himself because he could no longer take the physical effects of the long term effects of having Covid. You should be a politician.

Anonymous said...

The DOE/ CDC policy for increased students in person of 3 feet apart desks and 6 feet apart for eating without a cafeteria is INSANE!!! Does the room magically expand???? Is it also somehow an illusion that the Chancellor and Mayor did not see that written clearly??? Hello-- Is there a Union out there??

Anonymous said...

6:22 People died. No shit. Doesn’t mean 6:02’s point isn’t valid. We can’t wait for 0% risk to open. Isolated people are committing suicide too,

Anonymous said...

Shelley, teachers have been working.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the bottom of the cdc guidelines say places with high infection rates should still stay 6ft

Meanwhile Richmond Hill has a 14 percent infection rate...

Nothing to see there

OH.... And every single study was done outside high density urban areas.....

Can't make it up folks

Anonymous said...

“We want parents to feel safe and real security when they’re sending their child to school,” Mulgrew said. “We know that as long as we continue down the right path and we can show more parents that your child is going to be safe, we want to get more children back inside the school.” mulgrew

Anonymous said...

"A Great Success."
Borat

Anonymous said...

I just love how people are ignoring the variants. I was fully vaccinated yesterday, but who says the vaccination fully protects you from the variants?

Anonymous said...

Many don't want to hear it but there reaches a point where a percentage of death due to unnatural causes is acceptable in society. Sound harsh? Sound callous? The flu is around every year. Do we stop the country because 60k die of it? No. How many die from smoking related causes. Yet we accept smoking as legal because money is made off of taxes. Now marijuana is legal in more states. Addictive painkillers are still prescribed. Have we shut down the streets until the gangs and violence are gone? Foods high in sugar and saturated fat still get sold even though heart disease kills 1/4 of us. AIDS still is around yet we don't quarantine those with the virus. At what point do we accept this virus as part of society and admit some of these decisions are political in nature.

Anonymous said...

Why are we being asked if we've been vaccinated on the health screening all of a sudden?? None of DOE's business!!!

Anonymous said...

How was work today?

“Daily cases in the US are +3000 vs 7 days ago .. 5 states are accounting for nearly that entire 3,000 case rise... none are Spring Break states."

NYC Kids, 5-17: 59,833
(6.5% increase; 2 consecutive weeks of increasing growth for first time in '21)

DOE Staff: 7,536
(4.6% increase, largest 1 week increase since 2/8)

James Eterno said...

565,000 More U.S. Deaths Than Normal Since Covid-19 Struck. That's not normal.

Anonymous said...

New Yorkers, if you’re not scared of #B1526 you should be. Our mayors office may be trying to downplay it but it is dangerous.

Anonymous said...

It is called gaslighting. They want you to question your own sanity.

De Blasio and the DOE want you to convince you that it is safe to return to the buildings.

Anonymous said...

9:35: WHat a stupid comment. WHy would we quarantine those with AIDS? EVeryone knows the only way to get that is through sexual contact. Are you still living in the eighties? You probably wouldn't want Ryan WHite in your class.

Anonymous said...

For the greater good one could also argue that by quarantining the sexually promiscuous we protect them and their potential partners. Nanny states know no boundary they won’t cross. The cancel culture left of today would have no problem rounding up the promiscuous gay men of the 80s if a time machine placed them there.

Anonymous said...

Not true right winger. We could avoid having sex and sharing needles and we would not get HIV. We can't avoid sharing the same air with right wing idiots who won't wear masks or vaccinate putting us at risk of getting COVID nor can we stay away when you idiots express your 2nd amendment rights in grocery stores or nail salons.

Anonymous said...

911. We can’t stay away from our neighborhoods that you left wingers routinely burn and loot. Use instacart if you’re afraid of being shot in a grocery store. There are plenty of alternative for left wing pussies afraid to leave their house.

Anonymous said...

The media is controlling the narrative for the public. Only the intelligent who have trained themselves understand what’s going on. That should be us, as teachers with degrees and life experience in the trenches, we should know how to discern bullshit. The variants are dangerous. there are problems with the Astra Zeneca vaccine. That was evident when Ireland pulled it, but the media said they were wrong. This morning I read they were correct/maybe (always best to hedge your opinion especially when their is an agenda being pushed). With what we know about systemic bureaucratic incompetence there is no way that the New York City public school system should open before September. This is something that Mulgrew and his lapdogs understand, but choose to ignore. Everyone wants life to go back to normal, but ignoring the quickly approaching missile will not make it go away or lessen the impact. Just one more point before I go. They’re blaming all the crap in Miami and South Beach on college kids. Firstly, most colleges have canceled their spring break. Secondly, the guys down here are not college kids. Maybe it’s just Black Lives Matter having another protest; I can’t tell the difference anymore.

Anonymous said...

Needed for sneakers.

https://finance.yahoo.com/stimulus-checks-ignite-spending-in-athletic-footwear-and-apparel-bof-a-164508897.html#click=https://t.co/mrkbsbRZ48

Anonymous said...

1033 i can tell the difference between a bunch of drunk frat boys and a civil rights movement. i guess, as you said, only the intelligent understand what's going on.

Anonymous said...

1025 the system loots the people and allows neighborhoods to decay.

Anonymous said...

11:27, Most of these guys haven’t graduated high school, are in their mid-twenties and out and out thugs. Come for a visit, asshole.

Anonymous said...

Spring break has been canceled by the vast majority of colleges in this country. Those aren't college kids partying. College kids don’t have to be dispersed with teargas. You’ll see the same kind of action the first really warm day in the South Bronx without the police.

Anonymous said...

1158. lovely discourse. so deep.

Anonymous said...

A lot of you guys have the wrong web address. You belong on the Police Union message boards. Not the teacher's union.

Anonymous said...

I am 9:35 and I am clearly not advocating for locking up AIDS patients. If you know anything about history, in the early 80's a POST headline quoted a top health Indiana candidate at the time suggested that as a way to prevent the spread of AIDS and also keep a list of who has the virus. So to put that in today's terms, instead of "lock up" we can say quarantine and instead of "keep a list" we can say contact tracing. My point is that you have to accept some risk as you go through life. The intial lock down to delay the spread until theraputics and a vaccine were accessible was the right cause of action. But as said by many, death rate is down, hospitalizations are down. Why is the entire country being harmed and held back for a such a small percentage if illnesses when we accept other forms of death and illness in our society.

Anonymous said...

Because it is not down any longer in the northeast. We are trailing Europe by a few weeks as we did in the first and second waves. Getting out of this pandemic requires shared sacrifice to beat the variants, not morons going maskless as was said before.

Anonymous said...

12:36, If I could trade the UFT for the NYPD’s union I would, and Mulgrew for Lynch. Just remember not all teachers are pussified idiots like 12:34.

David Suker said...

Municipal workers are going back to offices and can return maskless indoors if they can maintain 6 feet of distance. Sounds smart.

Anonymous said...

My feeling is that if students are no showing...why should i take the risk of traveling on the bus and train and interacting in the building to talk to a computer?

waitingforsupport said...

@1127 am
...good one

waitingforsupport said...

@1204..
And at the capitol on 1/6/21 and li beaches oh and in PR. Folks are disrespecting the beautiful island and its beautiful people.

waitingforsupport said...

@1236...wait pat lynch has a message board?

waitingforsupport said...

@1244...how can this be? We have the best and the brightest making America great. Check your sources. We can't be trailing.

Pt said...

Typical doe. The student can't speak or understand English, yet he is a level 3!?

From the AP...

Colleagues,

This student came in today thinking he could return to live instruction. I explained to him that we not been given the green light just yet.

I walked him through the steps involved in remote classroom learning. His English skills are limited (I'm not sure how he is level 3) and told him that many of his teachers speak spanish, to some extent. I encouraged him to attend the Google Meet to ask for 1 on 1 help from his teachers.

Anonymous said...

If you want to read some awesome NYPD message boards, go on THE RANT. It rules.

Anonymous said...

405 yes, NYPD message boards. no more proof needed that our education system is trash, and that racism is alive and well in our systems and culture. yup. totally rules.

Anonymous said...

1247 are we 5 years old?

Anonymous said...

LOL. Student who can't speak English is a level 3.

waitingforsupport said...

@4:05 pm...
Oh goodie. Is this the site that supports the reason why the NYPD should remain the same? It's always nice to hear/read the thoughts and feelings of so many decent hardworking "heros". It's a confirmation of what so many people have known for decades. Thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

Republican voting teachers. That's what truly drives lefty teachers insane. We're not heading over to an nypd blog. We work for the doe. I know it's hard for the snowflake crowd to hear dissenting opinions. But they exist whether you hear them or not.

unknown said...

Please lol... we are officially offended by everything.