As Delta variant rages out of control in the USA and the government and many people continue to pretend the pandemic is over, our colleagues in Chicago returned to school this morning with only a very limited remote option. Teachers will be returning in New York next week and the kids are coming back on September 13 with a remote option only available for very few.
I am worried about the kids, including my own who are 12 and 7 as obviously the 7-year-old cannot be vaccinated. I am concerned for the adults too as it seems this country is just in major denial about COVID, particularly when it comes to schools. The national mood seems to be we are tired of the pandemic so we will move on. COVID has other plans, however, and there are some dire consequences. Look at what is occurring in schools already opened.
This is from AL.com by columnist Kyle Whitmire:
Whitmire: The South walked kids into a COVID buzzsaw. Don’t repeat our mistakes, America.
America, it’s time for class. Take a seat and pay attention.
Pay attention to Tennessee, where 36 percent of new COVID cases are among children, about triple the rate of a year ago.
Pay attention to Georgia, where more than 125,000 students have already had in-person school disrupted.
Pay attention to Mississippi, where COVID cases among students, teachers and staff are more than 10-times what they were this time last year.
Pay attention to Alabama, where …
Well, we can’t say how bad things are here because our public health officials can’t yet compile the data we need. We’re driving this school bus with our eyes closed.
In its latest attempt to show the rest of the country that we know better, the South has shown America, alright. We’ve played our customary role. Like the kids in those grisly Drivers Ed videos, we’re the cautionary tale.
Don’t let this happen to you.
If you’re not from the South, you might be wondering how we could have such problems in schools this time of year when school starts after Labor Day. Through some quirk of the calendar I can’t explain, schools here start in early August, a month or more before the first bells ring elsewhere in the country. This little asynchronicity gives the rest of you the opportunity to learn from our mistakes.
Whitmere now has the numbers for Alabama and they are horrible:
UPDATE: After this column published, the Alabama Department of Public Health launched a public dashboard for COVID cases in Alabama schools, although the data it uses is still incomplete. The Alabama Department of Public Health now reports that more than 5,571 students contracted COVID in one week, a 700 percent increase over the same time last year.
Is NYC going to be any better? More people are vaccinated here and the city says they improved ventilation in schools but this story in Chalkbeat shows the DOE probably didn't buy the best product:
Brent Stephens, a professor and chair of the civil, architectural, and environmental engineering department at the Illinois Institute of Technology, recently conducted an independent test of the product after Allen raised concerns about the device on social media. The Intellipure was among the least efficient, he found. It ranked ninth out of the dozen his team tested in terms of its clean air delivery rate, or CADR, which measures how often a purifier turns over the air in the room.
Once again, I listened to Dr. Michael Osterhom's weekly CIDRAP podcast on COVID-19 and I became deeply concerned as I paid very close attention to the part on kids and schools which starts around the 45-minute mark.
He talks about the vaccine for kids under 12. He says that only 20% of kids who could be vaccinated have received at least one dose.
He then says we have to stop with the "happy talk" about the schools. Public health is doing a disservice on schools being opened throughout the US. Public health has bought into the emotional issue of in-person education being needed but we have to be transparent and honest. Public health is saying the risk of kids missing in-person learning is so great that we will emphasize that over other data on what the risks might be. Data used for CDC guidelines on schools was collected before Alpha and Delta variants came to the United States. The idea that there was very little transmission from kids was valid in the first 8-10 months of the pandemic. They don't hold up now. CDC recommendations have some validity but they are built on a house of cards. 3 feet distance if you have a face cloth covering on defies gravity. He wants adequate masking. Aerosol won't stop at 3-feet or with plexiglass.
Look what is happening in the last couple of weeks in the Southern states. Osterholm goes over some of the data. Over 1 in 100 school-age children have tested positive for COVID-19 in Georgia. Florida has the same situation. Over 11,000 infected students and over 2,600 staff positive. His conclusion: He doesn't think it's possible to get kids back to schools safely today. We gotta tell the truth. CDC says the priority is getting kids back to in-person schools. CDC's priority should be the science. What does safely mean? It's not what's going to happen in the next 6 weeks. CDC recommends universal indoor masking but what about the quality of the masking? What are we doing putting kids in harm's way by putting them in rooms closer than 3 feet? The aerobiology is terrible. Do you think if you were closer than 3 feet to someone smoking you would smell it? You bet you would. CDC misrepresenting what science says. They have dropped the ball on this one. Science is telling us it is impossible to open up schools with delta spreading. Put beliefs aside. Health equity is real. CDC says health equity is a critical part of this. It is not scientifically sound information to say you can make schools safe. We can make them safer.
There is a hierarchy of environmental controls:
1-Vaccines, they are not being used effectively. The vaccine will trump a mask every day. Why don't we put an emphasis on vaccine mandates? We know it will tear our communities apart.
2-Ventilation, we need rooms with 5-6 air exchanges per hour. Use portable air cleaners. HEPA filters very effective. It may be too expensive or they might not be available. You can build a Corsi Box.
3-Physical distancing, plexiglass shields are part of hygiene theater. 6-feet isn't magical. Someone 20 feet in front of me on the sidewalk was smoking and I smelled it. 3-feet distance is wrong, wrong, wrong. It defies gravity to think it will make a difference.
4-Testing and quarantine. Frequent testing is needed. CDC is wrong saying 15 minutes of exposure for transmission; it is probably only seconds to a minute with Delta. Quarantine is needed if exposed. Pediatric intensive care units in this country are filled in the United States
5-Masks. A good quality mask can reduce transmission. Face cloth coverings provide little protection. You need an N95 or KN95 or barrier face covering. Next level to N-95. Putting a mask under a nose is like closing three of four doors on a submarine. Quality masking.
Delta is going to do what it's going to do. CDC has provided unscientific recommendations.
Next up, Dr. Osterhom introduces Dr. Jenna, who is an intensive care unit physician. She promotes vaccination. and talks about how demoralized front-line healthcare workers are because of patients who don't vaccinate and ask for experimental remedies that don't work and then threaten to sue if they don't get them. It's like a house being on fire and someone coming and yelling at a firefighter saying to use a squirt gun. The vast majority in the ICU are unvaccinated or a few who are vaccinated but were unable to get an immune response. Training can't prepare us for the anger. We have PTSD, panic attacks and insomnia. It's not safe to travel which she usually does to relax. ICU professionals are frustrated as information from trustworthy sources is being blatantly ignored. She adds we are spread so thin. Misinformation and politics are getting in the way. People are moving beyond the pandemic but it isn't over for me.
The system is not created for this pandemic. She urges people to get vaccinated. She is confident the vaccine is safe and will keep people out of the ICU. Patients in ICU are almost all unvaccinated. People coming in now are younger and don't have comorbidities. Pregnant women coming in. Babies born early. Patients in ICU for weeks and months. 25% have long-haul symptoms.
She volunteers to vaccinate people. Every patient she vaccinates is one less person she will see in the ICU. ICU doctors will tell you to run, not walk, to get the vaccine.
There is more. Please listen to this woman.
If you want numbers, here are some:
What about a real remote option?
Update:
A picture from a crowded Chicago high school says so much.
57 comments:
Sorry james, you cant dance at two weddings, as the saying goes.you push people to follow the science of the cdc when it suits you.now what?suddenly,you dont trust it?Either you trust the cdc or you dont!which is it??you twust it all ti fit your narrative.just like you dont trust on this issue, others dont trust them on vaccines. I do not trust them any issue.now terrorists allowed on social media but censor scientists and doctors who dare raise questions.parents want kifs back nk matter what, many without masks.so why would they if things are so bad? Nobody wants covid but there are so many opinions.to james, well, just like you all say the unvaxxed should leave, you and others who are afraid for your children can also leave.you can choose to homeschool your kids, as can all others on this blog, especially since you are licensed.make no mistake:i agree that opening under these conditions is a dangerous game.if kids die, there will be lawsuits.sad, but that is what might change something.cuomo is not the only ny leader who reeks of death.diblocked only cares about his ego.he thinks he is so great, that he has a shot at being the gov! I agree cdc lies on All fronts, not only this.our own members boast about milking remote.can u blame people for wanting schools open when many refuse to do their job??
If Delta is more contagious, why did they reduce distance from 6 to 3 feet?science anyone?common sense not so common.
If you are unvaccinated, things can be tough. However, if you are vaccinated, wear a mask etc, then odds are you will be ok.
We can’t live in fear in our basements anymore.
It’s time to come out of our mouse traps.
Stop watching every news report, guys and go live!
James Eterno, master gaslighter.
The damage to children's psyche is way more serious than the virus.Most children will get over the virus, but their psychic illness will last a lifetime
And should you not forget the damage this is doing to their education? Black and brown children from a lower socio-economic family are getting a terrible education remotely. Why don't you ever talk abou that Mr.fear monger?
This is the likely result of the NY city school reopening:
https://www.wvtm13.com/article/alabama-school-leaders-surprised-by-covid-surge-school-closures/37419178#
Don't trust the UFT propaganda.
You never seemed to freak about the flu when many kids died. Kids are not dying in covid, some cases but nothing like the flu. You believe in the faulty PCR test, the common cold. Once the test changes in December the PCR test will pick up the flu and you won't see many covid cases.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210614/Study-suggests-COVID-19-in-children-is-milder-than-the-flu.aspx
https://www.livescience.com/flu-deaths-children.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01897-w
"While teachers unions including the United Federation of Teachers, which represents New York City teachers, have supported the no-opt out rules for vaccines, they also advocate on behalf of dissenting members in negotiations with the city. Some of those talks focus on severance packages for those who leave their jobs and leaves of absences that could allow some teachers to return once the public health crisis passes.
“We will represent them and we will protect their interests. But there is a deep disagreement here,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the parent organization of the New York City teachers union.
“At the end of the day, employers have the right to impose these kinds of vaccination policies and they will do that,” she said.
At least 72% of the 75,000 public school teachers in New York City have gotten at least one shot of a vaccine."
https://news.wttw.com/2021/08/30/districts-insist-vaccines-some-teachers-push-back
Anon 2323, Please spare us. The stuff you sent above is pre- Delta. Here is something in response from NBC:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/doctors-are-more-worried-about-covid-flu-when-it-comes-n1276332
But the Covid-19 pandemic has been different. Darville estimates that she has seen about the same number of severely ill kids with the coronavirus in a single season as she has over 30 years of treating seriously ill kids with flu.
"I just don't think the lay public understands the gravity and intensity of this virus," she said.
Part of that is because of some of the right wing propaganda people who really believe it try to push here.
According to you people....Parents want their kids back in school.they wont push temote.when the shtf, things may change.you seem to contradict.you state that parents dont see the gravity of the situation, but they want the mandate.which is it?
Cdc inconsistent...city too.randi is rotten.she needs to go.she is in bed with city selling out the members while other unions fight for their people. other unions dont say:well they have the right to mandate...and shrug their shoulders.only stinky uft.randis woman is in Biden's cabinet.do randi will not budge.
Whete did all that talk about severancevpay come from?where can we read it?too bad eri didnt pass...
I guess they want to kill us so they dont have to pay pensions and benefits.a money game. And si is 3020a...a money game.si glad im in my final years.sad.i love my school but hate the employer and the ny politicions.
No mandate in montana, but pensions are fully taxed. If eri passed, i believe there would be an exodus now.
I was a teacher in the NYC DoE; I've been retired for some years now; my partner is still "in the System," and I have no way to understand most of the behavior displayed throughout this ongoing worldwide pandemic.
In NYC, thousands of people became ill, maybe seriously ill, and maybe eventually died because the DoE, in its accustomed impeccable wisdom, kept schools open in 2020 AFTER Covid-19 had come to town. This meant the movement of thousands and thousands of people in New York City on trains, buses, railroads and in parking lots, restaurants and so on. Everyone having anything to do with public school was on the move, mingling, "congregating," or "gathering" as they term it. The results were literally lethal.
Here we are again. Major denial and the near universal human cry of "I WANT . . ." In this case, people want babysitters for their kids as a major reason for "go back to a classroom." Some of it is economic. If the government and predators with a great deal of money simply made sure everyone had food, housing, etc. during the pandemic, it would solve a great many of the problems which have translated into hell for millions of us. A secret: by "predators," I include our greatly beloved union, which has charged us money for the privilege of harming us for decades now. That's another story entirely.
Human animals have, and are, enduring privations and trials much heavier than keeping their own self-created children home. Read the news, read history.
One of the most hurtful, puzzling, and infuriating features of this argument about closing schools during the pandemic is a near TOTAL LACK OF CONCERN FOR THE SAFETY OF TEACHERS AND EVERY OTHER ADULT IN THE BUILDINGS. "The kids, the kids, the kids." Really? Sick and dead teachers or janitors or nurses or dieticians or even administrators is just dandy? Acceptable losses?
I lived through, intact in body and mind, a number of truly murderous and venom-filled "disciplinary" actions courtesy of the DoE and UFT. I saw thousands of teachers lose jobs, homes, families, health, and even life simply because the DoE and UFT were allowed to slowly torment teachers for decades. Since COVID-19, a new chapter in "the hell with the teachers" saga has been opened.
Why don't we all find our courage, our compassion for one another, and close ranks to protect ourselves and our families first, and "the children" and their families next?
To paraphrase John Lennon, "All I Am Saying Is Give Teachers A Chance (To Live)." How about it . . . please?
Imagine an unventilated bathrooms in your school becoming filled throughout the day with an aerosol of fecal bacteria. Multiple folks who share the bathroom will have asymptomatic Delta variant Covid infections. Embedded with their spray of fecal aerosols are their viral loads of Delta variant. The unventilated bathroom becomes a super spreading chamber; a gas chamber filled with deadly Delta variant.
There is no logic or analysis to their decision to re-open schools.
Is working in this hazardous environment worth the risks to you and your family?
OMG ! The 7-day average for COVID deaths in NYC is 10 people. Quick ! Lockdown now China style ! Curfew ! Face diapers ! Vaccinate the unvaccinated vermin !
You need no clearer proof to know that James Eternos position,as well as the left in general is wrong by the fact that they regularly censor anyone who they find to be a threat to their narrative. When they are alone by themselves and look in the mirror they see that fraudulent face staring back at them.
GET OVER IT! NYC schools are going to be open with no remote option. It's set in stone. I have no idea that some people are thinking that it is going to change. DeBlasio and the DOE do not give a shit about what is happening, they just want the nations biggest babysitting service to be open to keep the economy flowing.
"Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran announced that the Florida Department of Education has withheld the monthly school board member salaries in Alachua and Broward County, as directed by the State Board of Education," the department said in a statement."
"A Florida state judge on Friday ruled that the state had no authority to enforce an order by Governor Ron DeSantis banning public school districts from requiring masks in classrooms, and barring his administration from withholding funds over mask mandates."
They have no regard for the law.
"What will it take for the American majority to stop being hijacked by the bad-faith politics of an increasingly radicalized GOP that will stop at nothing to promote death and achieve minority rule?
Most of us in this country, who have chosen life during a pandemic, are asked to coddle the unhinged temper tantrums and violent extremism of a conservative base that continues supporting the Jan. 6 violent insurrection and attacking our voting rights, and is willing to sacrifice our children as canaries in the COVID coalmine to fuel their endless culture war during a pandemic that has killed over 600,000 Americans."
"You can’t “win over” these folks anymore. They are too far over the bend to get brought back around by Hillbilly Elegies, FDA vaccine approvals, sympathetic profiles of voters in rust belt diners, or town halls with undecided voters. Facts, common sense, and good-naturedness will not sway their fragile, terrified hearts."
Enough coddling. It’s time to say enough is enough.
"It’s too late to convince people determined to believe otherwise that the pandemic is real, deadly, and requires them to wear masks and take vaccines. It’s been nearly two years. We could have reopened safely by now, saved thousands of lives, and protected our front-line workers if we simply followed social distancing and masking.
Instead, a radicalized minority enabled by demagogic governors continues to choose death, which Republicans are trying, insanely, to rebrand as “freedom.”
"That minority may have a right to choose death, but they certainly don’t have a right to infect us with their virus by coming to work, to sporting events and into our children’s schools."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dont-negotiate-with-trumps-disease-spreading-zombie-army?source=articles&via=rss
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who is a Pfizer board member, noted that “natural immunity” gained from a prior COVID-19 infection needs to be included in discussions about policies and mandates.
“The balance of the evidence demonstrates that natural immunity confers a durable protection,” Gottlieb said during a Monday morning TV interview, referring to a landmark new preprint Israeli study that found prior COVID-19 infection confers much more protection against the virus than any vaccine.
“It’s fair to conclude that,” he said.
Wait. I thought vaccines were our only option? Why didn’t CNN tell me this? My head hurts.
"Mr Lynch then suggested he would take groups of men to a school board to intimidate them into leaving their positions.
"Forget going into these school boards with frigging data."
"You go into school boards to remove ’em! That’s what you do! They don’t follow the law! You go in and you remove ’em," he said. "I’m going in there with 20 strong men, I’m going to speak to the school board and I’m going to give them an option. They can leave or they can be removed."
----------------------------------------------
Lynch is a GOP Gov candidate. But it's Liberals who are the violent fascists forcing their views on others?
Tuesday, the White House Chief Medical Adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci touted the effectiveness of Monoclonal Antibodies. He estimatesd that the treatment could reduce hospitalization by up to 85 percent. Fauci encouraged anyone with suppressed immune systems as well as other mitigating factors take advantage of the treatment.
“Bottom line is this is a very effective intervention for COVID-19. It is underutilized, and we recommend strongly that we utilize this to its fullest,” Fauci said at the press conference on Tuesday.
I don't think anyone wants a teacher to lose their job but just coming in unvaccinated during a pandemic is not reasonable. Testing is not reasonable either because people won't be testing regularly enough. The WH was testing people everyday and many people still got sick. What are the options for ICT when one teacher is vaccinated and the other isn't?
Some people have brought up Cuomo but what does he have to do with this anymore? What does the new Governor say about all of this?
#BREAKING: From September 13, NSW residents that are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be given new freedoms.
Residents of hotspots can leave home for an hour of recreation on top of their exercise hour, while people in other areas can meet five others outdoors.
#9News Sydney
James, is this what you want for the US? An extra hour of freedom ?
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/27/russia-covid-vaccines-wont-be-compulsory-putin-says-amid-skepticism.html
Speaking last weekend during a meeting with the governing United Russia party ahead of next month's parliamentary elections, Putin said "We need to do everything we can to overcome this pandemic," adding "and the best tool we have in this fight is vaccination."
"Vaccination is the main weapon against the spread of the virus. Importantly, no one should be forced to get a jab. Pressure, where people may lose their jobs, is even less acceptable. People must be convinced of the need to get the vaccine," he said.
So James and other mandaters are more authoritarian than Vladimir Putin? Interesting.
1106 ON POINT GET OVER IT..MOVE ON TO ANOTHER TALKING POINT
GET READY FOR STAFF MEETINGS NEXT WEEK..PUT ON YOUR HAPPY FACE...THIS SEPTEMBER WILL BE DIFFICULT TO PUT ON A HAPPY FACE BUT ..SCHOOLS WILL OPEN KIDS WILL FLOW IN AND WHO KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT...
MY GUESS ..DOE WILL HAVE TO ALLOW TESTING OPTIONS FOR UNVACCINATED SINCE THE NEW GOVERNOR HAS SAID TESTING OPTION AVAILABLE FOR NYS TEACHERS .NEW JERSEY ALSO ALLOWING TESTING OPTION...
AND PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE ANGRY...THEN AGAIN THEY ARE ALWAYS ANGRY ABOUT SOMETHING ...SO SUCK IT UP..PUT ON YOUR BIG BOY AND GIRL PANTS GET DRESSED GO TO SCHOOL..
BY OCTOBER 1ST SCHOOLS WILL SEE COVID POSITIVE TESTS...DOE WILL HAVE TO DECIDE WHETHER TO GO REMOTE..DEBLASIO BLAMES THE UNVACCINATED AND NOTHING CHANGES...THIS IS THE DOE
LAST YEAR CHILDREN WERE TOLD YOU ARE MISSING IMMUNIZATIONS AND WILL NOT BE ALLOWED INTO SCHOOL ..THEN THEY WERE GIVEN AN EXTENSION EVERY OMTH UNTIL JUNE..WELCOME TO THE DOE
Good point 9:04am also what about the paras? There will be 4 adults this fall in my classroom. We are all :supposed to be 6 feet apart and then also 6 feet from the students correct?
"So James and other mandaters are more authoritarian than Vladimir Putin?"
You think Putin cares about the number of people who die? But you go right ahead and listen to Putin because we all know he's a truth teller.
"They tried grocery giveaways and lotteries for new cars and apartments. But an ambitious plan of vaccinating 30 million Russians by mid-June still has fallen short by a third.
So now, many regional governments across the vast country are obligating some workers to get vaccinated and requiring the shots to enter certain businesses, like restaurants."
"In light of the surge, 18 Russian regions — from Moscow and St. Petersburg to the remote far-eastern region of Sakhalin — made vaccinations mandatory this month for employees in certain sectors, such as government offices, retail, health care, education, restaurants and other service industries."
https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-health-coronavirus-pandemic-business-42d0c14f0545371e16a360b677cb4c38
6:19,I just gave the numbers and transcribed what experts say. Is Dr Jenna fear mongering?
How do we keep that death rate low?
James do you know if they are actually going to sit down and negotiate any of this, or are they just going to open up with no word on where students can sign up for a remote option?
According to Mulgrew he said DeBlasio finally agreed on a remote option, so I don't think that was Home Instruction. They can't take on that many students if they start signing up for it by the thousands.
It takes me time to get to all of the comments. If they are on topic and use reliable sources, they are posted except for some that are obscene or outright racist or sexist.
This strawman argument is crazy. I responded earlier from a Twitter post:
You"might" get more protection from the infection than from the vaccine does not seem like a good health plan as the infection "might" also kill you while the vaccine won't. I'll stick with the vaccine!
Is this what you want for Australia: 630,000 deaths from COVID like the US has?
They are negotiating according to what Mulgrew said last Friday on PIX 11.
https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-approves-4000-classrooms-unreliable-ventilation-person-schooling?fbclid=IwAR3oIGPI2VhSlpOvdx4V0E7JhzfiYmicuQ5uozvfY9BXOcU49DzA0SUurWk
Many room don't even have windows but they are claiming that they are properly ventilated based on (insert gobbledygook here).
WaPo
U.S. mortality rates will remain high and childbearing will lag through 2023 because of the pandemic, government report predicts
The new report, from the trustees for the Medicare and Social Security programs, also predicts that immigration levels will be lower than previous projections because of the pandemic but eventually will return to more normal patterns.
We are doing a great job fighting the pandemic. Let's just make sure we kill as many as we can to keep those freedoms.
From twitter:
I have relatives down south who think De Blasio is a psycho for sending kids in with no vaccine and no remote. They say he’s worse than De Santis because De Blasio’s actually in charge, whereas, De Santis is just posturing.
Senator Robert Jackson
1- NYC parents, students, & teachers have spoken—the Mayor & the DOE must listen: provide a remote option for families who may need or want it. No one opposes reopening schools in September, but we are still in a pandemic, and delta doesn’t spare kids like earlier variants.
4:18 They're both out of line and De Santis is not just posturing. He had to be taken to court and even after losing the case he's appealing, and he followed through on his threat to withhold funds.
A pediatrician in South Carolina
https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/94291
Days before school began, over 1,000 South Carolina physicians united to sign a petition to urge (Governor)McMaster to repeal his mandate. We thought our community would come together to protect our most vulnerable children. I was naive.
Our pediatric battle cries could not overcome the growing fervor in the community. By mid-August, my hopes for a sensible return to school were gone. I watched in abject horror as my PICU mentor was spit on at a local school board meeting after she contradicted the false notion that children do not get sick from COVID-19. Her entire life dedicated to trying to save the sickest children in South Carolina, and her expertise was discarded in favor of conspiracy and ideology. I then watched a prominent community pediatrician defamed across social media for having the audacity to suggest that universal mask mandates and vaccines might save lives. Seeing the vitriol aimed at my colleagues damaged my psyche in a way that was surpassed, only by the fear I felt in sending my children back to school. I felt dejected.
I was far from alone. Frazzled group chats sprung up among fellow pediatricians about alternative plans for schooling and daycare. Taking inventory of our losses, we wondered how long it would be before our children were sick, before they unknowingly made others sick, before entire school districts reverted to virtual learning, before we either couldn't work due to quarantine and isolation or were expected to work overtime to support a community that couldn't be bothered to do the most basic preventive tasks: vaccinate, isolate, and wear masks to protect vulnerable citizens. I felt abandoned.
As a pediatric fellow raising three children and fully dependent on our dual-income family, there were no good options. Nannies and private schools (where ironically masks are mandated) were well beyond our means. Home-school "pods" were logistically impossible without giving up my fellowship in developmental pediatrics, a desperately undermanned subspecialty. With great hesitation, my husband and I (both fully vaccinated) took deep breaths and sent our babies into their public-school classrooms on August 18 -- with masks on their faces, but no mandates for their peers. I hoped for the best, but felt completely helpless.
When all three of my too-young-to-be-vaccinated children were quarantined due to a COVID-19-positive close contact, 3 short days after school began, I tried to remain calm. I took a deep breath, texted my program directors about work-from-home options, then picked up homework packets and began to tackle my additional role as "teacher." By day 5 of quarantine, my husband felt like he was hit by a train and my 22-month-old toddler was febrile to 103 degrees. Afternoon COVID-19 tests for the whole family confirmed what I suspected, my husband and all three children were infected with COVID-19. As I processed the news, and thought about how hard we worked to prevent this, I grew livid.
While I know that most children who get COVID-19 will probably be OK, my combined pediatrician and parent anxiety overwhelmed me and I spiraled into worst-case scenarios. As my 5-year-old told me that her dinner tasted funny, I thought of the healthy 5-year-old in Georgia who died of pneumonia and a stroke. As my 8-year-old begged to break out of isolation, I remembered the first pediatric COVID-19 death in North Carolina last year; an 8-year-old girl who loved the beach, just like my daughter. One of my biggest challenges as a pediatric resident was not imagining my children in every trauma, every preventable firearm injury, every drowning, every set of compressions, every child treated for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) that needed emergent extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, every heartbreaking outcome, every child that didn't go home. The thought of being the mother who left the hospital without my baby, broke me on more than one occasion. Maybe I've just seen too much, but I am terrified.
Now, on day 4 of isolation, I am grateful that my husband can breathe, my baby's fever is gone and my girls remain asymptomatic. But elsewhere in South Carolina, there are 33 children hospitalized for COVID-19. Seven are in critical care and three are on a ventilator. While my children are statistically likely to continue healing without complication, there are 454 children who have died from this virus in the U.S., an estimated 1.5 to 2 million children who have lost a caregiver worldwide, too many babies being born at the edge of viability because their unvaccinated, pregnant mothers are dying in ICUs, and many more children who are struggling with post-COVID-19 morbidities. As a mother and pediatrician, I wonder, exactly how much child death and devastation is acceptable? How much harder do we have to fight? All I know for sure is that I am equally heartbroken, burned-out, and angry.
The severity of this wave, and its effects on children, were largely preventable.
Shawna McCafferty, MD, is a U.S. Navy Veteran and a pediatrician in Charleston, South Carolina
Twitter
I get that @NYCMayor’s logic on COVID is now simply, “let ‘er rip.” Fill-up the schools with no meaningful mitigation measures. Try to use that as motivation to get hesitant people vaccinated. Then, when the inevitable happens, blame the tragedy on whatever slim slice of people didn’t get vaxxed, even though outbreaks will have likely been amplified by other factors. Safety measures are like rods in nuclear reactors; they exist to prevent things from getting out of control. But, De Blasio fears safety measures will spook people and depress the return of office workers, keeping the midtown vacancy rate high. His priorities have kkjjit=adangerously off this whole time. His sr RArigid thinking puts lives at risk. R r÷
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/08/30/1032520934/immunity-to-covid-19-could-last-longer-than-youd-think?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social
So, how long does immunity last after two doses of the vaccine? Six months or so? And at that point, how much protection is left over?
It all depends on which type of immunity you're talking about, says immunologist Ali Ellebedy at Washington University in St. Louis. Six months after your vaccine, your body may be more ready to fight off the coronavirus than you might think.
"If you were vaccinated six months ago, your immune system has been training for six months — you are better ready to fight a COVID-19 infection," says Ellebedy.
A series of new studies, including two led by Ellebedy, suggests that mRNA vaccines like those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna trigger the immune system to establish long-term protection against severe COVID-19 — protection that likely will last several years or even longer, Ellebedy says.
Let the virus rip through the schools! After all, we must know by now that De Blasio is an imposter, posing as anti-racist, but in practice very racist. Children of color, Black and Hispanic, will suffer the consequences of De Blasio's complacency. His laziness, or simply the enduring spell of groupthink that bewitched much of his administration will finalize his legacy. De Blasio will always be remembered as the laughingstock New York City mayor for the ages.
James, of course I don’t want those mortality numbers for Australia. However, as I’ve already demonstrated in comments from earlier posts, even CNN reported that countries attempting a Zero COVID strategy such as China and Australia are already beginning to question the logic of such an unsustainable and impractical approach. I think we can find some middle ground between authoritarian lockdowns/mandates and “devil may care” crony capitalism. However, I know Jacobin magazine has declared the need for a national mandate:
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/08/nationwide-vaccine-mandate-covid-19-delta-variant-new-york-health.
It’s a little hard to pin down your exact political position. But are you a socialist? If so, then that would help to explain your position here.
@5:55pm interesting study. But where are the exact numbers or percentages? I’ve seen the contrary from Israeli studies, thus the mad dash for perpetual boosters. In Israel, they are considering the double vaxxed as unvaxxed so people are scrambling for boosters there. Meanwhile, the 40% or so unvaxxed there are probably just shaking their heads at all this insanity.
BTW, I support a remote option. I love choice.
Maybe CNN can have this doctor on next. But I doubt it.
James, this is from the Michigan House. Not the dark web.
Also I challenge anyone here to refute her. And copypaste jobs of anecdotal stories are pretty weak refutations. That seems to be the main approach for the mandaters here.
Dr. Christina Parks House Bill 4471 Requiring Vaccines for Work Lansing Michigan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPlVJEyWAKY
@10:04PM, Bravo. I have to say, this is a great post. You win the best post of the day. But especially this "Why don't we all find our courage, our compassion for one another, and close ranks to protect ourselves and our families first, and "the children" and their families next?". Some people on this blog I have no use for, and never will, but the most powerful weapon a union has is closing ranks and in that we fail miserably and your post is a great reminder. Powerful post.
I don't understand why so many from the left love big government and see them as the answer to all problems. I've seen so many examples during my lifetime of government screwing things up and actually creating more of the very problem they purport to solve. Case in point Afghanistan.
And when the s*** hits the fan, and you're waiting for the government to help you, and all they send is a Red Cross sandwich truck, then maybe you'll learn your lesson.
Self-reliance is the only way, and that is why I'm not listening to the bureaucrat in a lab coat.
I thought anti-vaxxers were about choice?
"One of the largest vaccination sites in the country briefly shut down Saturday afternoon because maskless, anti-vaccine protesters blocked the entrance, officials said.
For nearly an hour, thousands of motorists in line to get a coronavirus vaccine shot at Dodger Stadium were stalled as about 50 people demonstrating against immunization efforts caused officials to temporarily close the site’s gates, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman David Ortiz told The Washington Post. The protest had no impact on the number of shots given Saturday at the site, which can vaccinate 8,000 people a day, Ortiz said.
Michaelson said he and several other drivers nearly left the site when one protester who was dressed as a police officer directed them out of line."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/30/anti-vaccine-protest-dodger-stadium/
@846pm pathetic attempt by a few wingnuts in LA. And get it straight. We are anti-mandate, not anti-vax.
Well are you happy now? There is a bill being pushed to mandate vaccines on kids.so now that the shoe is on the other foot, lets see how many parents who push for mandates will rush to jab the kids.
Btw, there is a lawsuit being filed for the cdc cookinf the books on covid cases and deaths.
As expected, State Senator Brad Hoylman introduced a Covid bill, Senate Bill S7320, it that appears to give the Health Commissioner the authority to order children to get the Covid shot.
The description of the bill reads, "Relates to the definition of administration with respect to immunization to prevent Covid-19 for children between the ages of two and eighteen years of age
Nobody wants anyone to die.But instead of pursuing effective treatments, the authorities told people to ride it out at home till u cant breathe.then they throw you on a vent where are likely to die. NOTE:THEY DOD NOT PURSUE EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS.when proven, effective treatmentS were suggested, they werr suppressed.the meds work well in the EARLY stages of covidhoe many died unnecessarily?i know someone whose family had to threaten a lawsuit to get those drugs while in the hospital.
6:59 Hold on a second. I remember when "big government" came with the stimulus monies and everybody had their hand out, and frankly the rich right wingers were first in line til they depleted all the funds. Then, local school boards in red states are making decisions for their communities, but here comes big government trying to dictate what they can or can not do, and right wingers are OK with it. I've paid enough money to the federal government over the years in the form of taxes to expect services from big government when and if I need it.
@10:47 uh, no. I got it straight. Some of you are anti-mandate, and some of you are anti-vax, and we see it everyday with the anti-vaxx propaganda, on this blog, in the media, the right-wing Harvard PhD everyone's been quoting who wants herd immunity achieved by having young people get sick.
5:05 The school boards are the government. They’re comprised of elected representatives. If they don’t involve the parents in the decisions they make, they should be run out of town. Big Gov includes school boards. Big Gov always fucks things up. How big is Big is up for debate. The stimulus deal was a fraud. How many of us got a check who never lost a penny of income? Gave mine to someone who actually lost their job. That’s me trying to fix what Big Gov as usual fucked up. Trump and Biden can both own that fuck up.
@2:21 School boards don't have the authority over the big bucks so there's a big difference. I'm talking about the Federal Government and I was responding to the whoever it was that said that those from the left love Big Government. School boards don't send Red Cross trucks and the Red Cross is not even a government entity. But whatever. They were trying to make it in a "left" thing as far as having their hand out, and it's not.
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