WaPo on the mental health crisis students are experiencing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1. As a European, it's really interesting to watch American liberals make this "you are on your own, fend for yourselves" argument when it comes to kids and families during the pandemic, while on the other hand calling for a "we are all in this together" approach when it comes to virus containment. European societies take a much more holistic approach to public health and community solidarity, one that balances the well-being and education of kids and the ability of families to maintain jobs with the need to contain the spread to protect those vulnerable to the virus, and most importantly, keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. That's why they are STILL keeping schools at least partially open in many places (misleading headlines notwithstanding), and will certainly not keep them closed for the rest of the year.

Thank you for this. I am an American but it is disturbing to me how much I hear liberal Americans espousing a view on the pandemic that is so focused on "personal responsibility" which is the same argument conservatives use to deny welfare benefits to single mothers or refuse asylum to immigrants.

The best possible response to a pandemic is communal. I think it can be hard to remember that in the US, where we have such an individualistic culture. Combine it with all the misinformation circulating (yes, I'm talking to you, PP who keeps posting links to a bunch of headlines in tweets to make your argument instead of engaging with what people are actually saying in the thread) and it's a recipe for disaster. If we leave families to just figure all of this out on their own, we will leave behind the vast majority of families.

It amuses me how parents here think they can just wish away data and scientific analysis. All spring and summer you were screaming for schools to open because 'kids aren't affected'. Now Europe/UK are reeling from a surge in viral cases and a mutation linked from their 'open no matter what' policies. It also turns out kids are carriers who are highly efficient at spreading the virus. Now you just want to ignore all that and still open schools because little Susie needs companionship.

Sorry. Gates closed. Figure it out.

Way to prove the point. Hope you don't consider yourself liberal. Otherwise you must be rupturing from cognitive dissonance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1. As a European, it's really interesting to watch American liberals make this "you are on your own, fend for yourselves" argument when it comes to kids and families during the pandemic, while on the other hand calling for a "we are all in this together" approach when it comes to virus containment. European societies take a much more holistic approach to public health and community solidarity, one that balances the well-being and education of kids and the ability of families to maintain jobs with the need to contain the spread to protect those vulnerable to the virus, and most importantly, keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. That's why they are STILL keeping schools at least partially open in many places (misleading headlines notwithstanding), and will certainly not keep them closed for the rest of the year.

Thank you for this. I am an American but it is disturbing to me how much I hear liberal Americans espousing a view on the pandemic that is so focused on "personal responsibility" which is the same argument conservatives use to deny welfare benefits to single mothers or refuse asylum to immigrants.

The best possible response to a pandemic is communal. I think it can be hard to remember that in the US, where we have such an individualistic culture. Combine it with all the misinformation circulating (yes, I'm talking to you, PP who keeps posting links to a bunch of headlines in tweets to make your argument instead of engaging with what people are actually saying in the thread) and it's a recipe for disaster. If we leave families to just figure all of this out on their own, we will leave behind the vast majority of families.

It amuses me how parents here think they can just wish away data and scientific analysis. All spring and summer you were screaming for schools to open because 'kids aren't affected'. Now Europe/UK are reeling from a surge in viral cases and a mutation linked from their 'open no matter what' policies. It also turns out kids are carriers who are highly efficient at spreading the virus. Now you just want to ignore all that and still open schools because little Susie needs companionship.

Sorry. Gates closed. Figure it out.

Wait - now the open schools didn't only cause the surge (for which you have no evidence), they are also responsible for the mutation?

Also, it is still expert consensus that kids under the age of ten - and that is about whom we are talking here - are not "highly effective" spreaders of the virus. Nobody says they cannot spread it, but they spread it much less than older kids and adults.

You are one to talk about data and scientific analysis.

So did you miss the Ontario data? Because children under the age of 10 are just as likely, sometimes exceeding the rates of tweens/teens, to be contagious carriers of Covid-19 - above and beyond any other age group.

Weird right? Kind of matches what we've thought all along.


- Data courtesy of Dr. Fisman, University of Toronto Epidemiologist
https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1352351686514384896

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1. As a European, it's really interesting to watch American liberals make this "you are on your own, fend for yourselves" argument when it comes to kids and families during the pandemic, while on the other hand calling for a "we are all in this together" approach when it comes to virus containment. European societies take a much more holistic approach to public health and community solidarity, one that balances the well-being and education of kids and the ability of families to maintain jobs with the need to contain the spread to protect those vulnerable to the virus, and most importantly, keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. That's why they are STILL keeping schools at least partially open in many places (misleading headlines notwithstanding), and will certainly not keep them closed for the rest of the year.

Thank you for this. I am an American but it is disturbing to me how much I hear liberal Americans espousing a view on the pandemic that is so focused on "personal responsibility" which is the same argument conservatives use to deny welfare benefits to single mothers or refuse asylum to immigrants.

The best possible response to a pandemic is communal. I think it can be hard to remember that in the US, where we have such an individualistic culture. Combine it with all the misinformation circulating (yes, I'm talking to you, PP who keeps posting links to a bunch of headlines in tweets to make your argument instead of engaging with what people are actually saying in the thread) and it's a recipe for disaster. If we leave families to just figure all of this out on their own, we will leave behind the vast majority of families.

It amuses me how parents here think they can just wish away data and scientific analysis. All spring and summer you were screaming for schools to open because 'kids aren't affected'. Now Europe/UK are reeling from a surge in viral cases and a mutation linked from their 'open no matter what' policies. It also turns out kids are carriers who are highly efficient at spreading the virus. Now you just want to ignore all that and still open schools because little Susie needs companionship.

Sorry. Gates closed. Figure it out.

Wait - now the open schools didn't only cause the surge (for which you have no evidence), they are also responsible for the mutation?

Also, it is still expert consensus that kids under the age of ten - and that is about whom we are talking here - are not "highly effective" spreaders of the virus. Nobody says they cannot spread it, but they spread it much less than older kids and adults.

You are one to talk about data and scientific analysis.

So did you miss the Ontario data? Because children under the age of 10 are just as likely, sometimes exceeding the rates of tweens/teens, to be contagious carriers of Covid-19 - above and beyond any other age group.

Weird right? Kind of matches what we've thought all along.


- Data courtesy of Dr. Fisman, University of Toronto Epidemiologist
https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1352351686514384896

Tweets do not make a scientific consensus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1. As a European, it's really interesting to watch American liberals make this "you are on your own, fend for yourselves" argument when it comes to kids and families during the pandemic, while on the other hand calling for a "we are all in this together" approach when it comes to virus containment. European societies take a much more holistic approach to public health and community solidarity, one that balances the well-being and education of kids and the ability of families to maintain jobs with the need to contain the spread to protect those vulnerable to the virus, and most importantly, keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. That's why they are STILL keeping schools at least partially open in many places (misleading headlines notwithstanding), and will certainly not keep them closed for the rest of the year.

Thank you for this. I am an American but it is disturbing to me how much I hear liberal Americans espousing a view on the pandemic that is so focused on "personal responsibility" which is the same argument conservatives use to deny welfare benefits to single mothers or refuse asylum to immigrants.

The best possible response to a pandemic is communal. I think it can be hard to remember that in the US, where we have such an individualistic culture. Combine it with all the misinformation circulating (yes, I'm talking to you, PP who keeps posting links to a bunch of headlines in tweets to make your argument instead of engaging with what people are actually saying in the thread) and it's a recipe for disaster. If we leave families to just figure all of this out on their own, we will leave behind the vast majority of families.

It amuses me how parents here think they can just wish away data and scientific analysis. All spring and summer you were screaming for schools to open because 'kids aren't affected'. Now Europe/UK are reeling from a surge in viral cases and a mutation linked from their 'open no matter what' policies. It also turns out kids are carriers who are highly efficient at spreading the virus. Now you just want to ignore all that and still open schools because little Susie needs companionship.

Sorry. Gates closed. Figure it out.

Wait - now the open schools didn't only cause the surge (for which you have no evidence), they are also responsible for the mutation?

Also, it is still expert consensus that kids under the age of ten - and that is about whom we are talking here - are not "highly effective" spreaders of the virus. Nobody says they cannot spread it, but they spread it much less than older kids and adults.

You are one to talk about data and scientific analysis.

So did you miss the Ontario data? Because children under the age of 10 are just as likely, sometimes exceeding the rates of tweens/teens, to be contagious carriers of Covid-19 - above and beyond any other age group.

Weird right? Kind of matches what we've thought all along.


- Data courtesy of Dr. Fisman, University of Toronto Epidemiologist
https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1352351686514384896

Tweets do not make a scientific consensus.

The second 'tweet' is a linked peer-reviewed study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. But do keep on with your misinformation.

[Anonymous]

That PP is obsessed with Dr. Zoe Hyde's tweets and spams them all over DCUM. I don't even know who Dr. Hyde is, but the constant spamming of one person's tweets but no actual studies makes me super suspicious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1. As a European, it's really interesting to watch American liberals make this "you are on your own, fend for yourselves" argument when it comes to kids and families during the pandemic, while on the other hand calling for a "we are all in this together" approach when it comes to virus containment. European societies take a much more holistic approach to public health and community solidarity, one that balances the well-being and education of kids and the ability of families to maintain jobs with the need to contain the spread to protect those vulnerable to the virus, and most importantly, keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. That's why they are STILL keeping schools at least partially open in many places (misleading headlines notwithstanding), and will certainly not keep them closed for the rest of the year.

Thank you for this. I am an American but it is disturbing to me how much I hear liberal Americans espousing a view on the pandemic that is so focused on "personal responsibility" which is the same argument conservatives use to deny welfare benefits to single mothers or refuse asylum to immigrants.

The best possible response to a pandemic is communal. I think it can be hard to remember that in the US, where we have such an individualistic culture. Combine it with all the misinformation circulating (yes, I'm talking to you, PP who keeps posting links to a bunch of headlines in tweets to make your argument instead of engaging with what people are actually saying in the thread) and it's a recipe for disaster. If we leave families to just figure all of this out on their own, we will leave behind the vast majority of families.

It amuses me how parents here think they can just wish away data and scientific analysis. All spring and summer you were screaming for schools to open because 'kids aren't affected'. Now Europe/UK are reeling from a surge in viral cases and a mutation linked from their 'open no matter what' policies. It also turns out kids are carriers who are highly efficient at spreading the virus. Now you just want to ignore all that and still open schools because little Susie needs companionship.

Sorry. Gates closed. Figure it out.

You don’t have science on your side if you are arguing that open schools caused the surge in Europe. Please stop pretending you do.

Wow. Wrong again.

Reopening schools following coronavirus lockdowns is linked to a surge in transmissions within a month, according to the first study to look at the impact of lifting restrictions on the R rate.

Children’s return to classrooms was followed by an average 24-per-cent rise in the R transmission number, University of Edinburgh researchers found after analysing data from 131 countries.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/coronavirus-r-rate-school-closures-lockdown-lancet-study-b1251617.html?amp

Peer-reviewed study = https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30785-4

Did you actually read the study? It literally says "For SARS-CoV-2, the role of children in its transmission is still unclear." It also admits that no analysis was done regarding the differing effect of opening high schools vs elementary schools, which they acknowledge as a serious limitation, "since the effect might differ by finer age bands within school-age children and adolescents." They also acknowledge that they did not account for various hygiene measures that were or were not taken in schools, and which could make a big difference.

Bottom line, this is far from conclusive. And while nobody (that I'm aware of) says that schools play NO role in transmission, the question remains whether their role is big enough to warrant keeping them closed for over a year. Most experts believe that an honest and comprehensive evaluation of the trade-offs will conclude that it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1. As a European, it's really interesting to watch American liberals make this "you are on your own, fend for yourselves" argument when it comes to kids and families during the pandemic, while on the other hand calling for a "we are all in this together" approach when it comes to virus containment. European societies take a much more holistic approach to public health and community solidarity, one that balances the well-being and education of kids and the ability of families to maintain jobs with the need to contain the spread to protect those vulnerable to the virus, and most importantly, keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. That's why they are STILL keeping schools at least partially open in many places (misleading headlines notwithstanding), and will certainly not keep them closed for the rest of the year.

Thank you for this. I am an American but it is disturbing to me how much I hear liberal Americans espousing a view on the pandemic that is so focused on "personal responsibility" which is the same argument conservatives use to deny welfare benefits to single mothers or refuse asylum to immigrants.

The best possible response to a pandemic is communal. I think it can be hard to remember that in the US, where we have such an individualistic culture. Combine it with all the misinformation circulating (yes, I'm talking to you, PP who keeps posting links to a bunch of headlines in tweets to make your argument instead of engaging with what people are actually saying in the thread) and it's a recipe for disaster. If we leave families to just figure all of this out on their own, we will leave behind the vast majority of families.

It amuses me how parents here think they can just wish away data and scientific analysis. All spring and summer you were screaming for schools to open because 'kids aren't affected'. Now Europe/UK are reeling from a surge in viral cases and a mutation linked from their 'open no matter what' policies. It also turns out kids are carriers who are highly efficient at spreading the virus. Now you just want to ignore all that and still open schools because little Susie needs companionship.

Sorry. Gates closed. Figure it out.

Wait - now the open schools didn't only cause the surge (for which you have no evidence), they are also responsible for the mutation?

Also, it is still expert consensus that kids under the age of ten - and that is about whom we are talking here - are not "highly effective" spreaders of the virus. Nobody says they cannot spread it, but they spread it much less than older kids and adults.

You are one to talk about data and scientific analysis.

So did you miss the Ontario data? Because children under the age of 10 are just as likely, sometimes exceeding the rates of tweens/teens, to be contagious carriers of Covid-19 - above and beyond any other age group.

Weird right? Kind of matches what we've thought all along.


- Data courtesy of Dr. Fisman, University of Toronto Epidemiologist
https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1352351686514384896

Tweets do not make a scientific consensus.

The second 'tweet' is a linked peer-reviewed study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. But do keep on with your misinformation.

Let me rephrase this: One tiny study does not make a scientific consensus. And quite pretending anyone is arguing that kids cannot transmit the virus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1. As a European, it's really interesting to watch American liberals make this "you are on your own, fend for yourselves" argument when it comes to kids and families during the pandemic, while on the other hand calling for a "we are all in this together" approach when it comes to virus containment. European societies take a much more holistic approach to public health and community solidarity, one that balances the well-being and education of kids and the ability of families to maintain jobs with the need to contain the spread to protect those vulnerable to the virus, and most importantly, keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. That's why they are STILL keeping schools at least partially open in many places (misleading headlines notwithstanding), and will certainly not keep them closed for the rest of the year.

Thank you for this. I am an American but it is disturbing to me how much I hear liberal Americans espousing a view on the pandemic that is so focused on "personal responsibility" which is the same argument conservatives use to deny welfare benefits to single mothers or refuse asylum to immigrants.

The best possible response to a pandemic is communal. I think it can be hard to remember that in the US, where we have such an individualistic culture. Combine it with all the misinformation circulating (yes, I'm talking to you, PP who keeps posting links to a bunch of headlines in tweets to make your argument instead of engaging with what people are actually saying in the thread) and it's a recipe for disaster. If we leave families to just figure all of this out on their own, we will leave behind the vast majority of families.

It amuses me how parents here think they can just wish away data and scientific analysis. All spring and summer you were screaming for schools to open because 'kids aren't affected'. Now Europe/UK are reeling from a surge in viral cases and a mutation linked from their 'open no matter what' policies. It also turns out kids are carriers who are highly efficient at spreading the virus. Now you just want to ignore all that and still open schools because little Susie needs companionship.

Sorry. Gates closed. Figure it out.

Wait - now the open schools didn't only cause the surge (for which you have no evidence), they are also responsible for the mutation?

Also, it is still expert consensus that kids under the age of ten - and that is about whom we are talking here - are not "highly effective" spreaders of the virus. Nobody says they cannot spread it, but they spread it much less than older kids and adults.

You are one to talk about data and scientific analysis.

So did you miss the Ontario data? Because children under the age of 10 are just as likely, sometimes exceeding the rates of tweens/teens, to be contagious carriers of Covid-19 - above and beyond any other age group.

Weird right? Kind of matches what we've thought all along.


- Data courtesy of Dr. Fisman, University of Toronto Epidemiologist
https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1352351686514384896

Tweets do not make a scientific consensus.

The second 'tweet' is a linked peer-reviewed study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. But do keep on with your misinformation.

Let me rephrase this: One tiny study does not make a scientific consensus. And quite pretending anyone is arguing that kids cannot transmit the virus.

For most of 2020 that's exactly what parents were arguing. Ignoring that, so you know kids can transmit the virus. You know a significant number of Americans who then contract the virus are dying from it. But that's still not enough for you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, but the "pay for care" argument is a straw man. Do people want school so they can work? Some do. But even people who have childcare or don't need it want school to reopen so their children can learn.

I have three kids. One in upper elementary, one in middle school and one in K. The older two are doing fine enough in terms of learning. The kindergartener is learning NOTHING from online school. Anything she's picked up is because I have been teaching her, and various educational apps have assisted.

I do not need childcare. I can do childcare portion of it just fine myself and have been doing it. I need school to reopen for at least the youngest one at least part-time because she is not learning via distance learning and neither is a lot of her friends, from talking to those kids' parents. Because I do not need school for childcare, I'd be fine with hybrid (part of the week, part of the day, whatever.) But no in-person school is not working for my youngest who is simply too young to learn through a screen.

Yes, yes, sure, I am teaching my kid myself and hopefully she won't be too far behind where she is supposed to be. But then the question becomes is if I am teaching my child by myself, why is the teacher collecting a paycheck for a job she is not doing in any effective way for my child (or the bulk of the children in that age group.) Some jobs cannot be effectively done from home and teaching very young children is one of them. I am fine for providing the child care component for all my children - the teachers are supposed to be providing effective teaching however. They are doing it for my two oldest because they are at the age where online learning is at least feasible if not ideal. They are not doing it for my youngest.

If people think it's OK for children, especially younger children, to fall behind (and let's face it, in a lot of families that are not as well off as the usual DCUM poster, fall behind irretrievably) so that teachers would feel safer, that's a position that can be argued. But at least don't be a hypocrite who claims that people only want childcare and that distance learning is just wonderful when for a lot of people that is not the case.

You are being really dramatic. You are teaching her yourself. She needs to know how to read, write and basic math. You get a few workbooks and apps and done. Regardless of school, you should do this anyway. She'll be fine.

What a bizarre argument against the value of professional early education teachers. I strongly disagree, and believe ECE teachers are incredibly skilled professionals doing an important job that I, as a parent, simply do not have the skills or experience to do effectively.

But apparently it's super easy and not even necessary and we should probably just cancel ECE and start school at like 2nd or 3rd grade. It's gonna be hard on all those teachers who spent years in school learning to do a union-protected job, but maybe they can find jobs making $18/hr as daycare teachers or nannies where they have no job security and minimal benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, but the "pay for care" argument is a straw man. Do people want school so they can work? Some do. But even people who have childcare or don't need it want school to reopen so their children can learn.

I have three kids. One in upper elementary, one in middle school and one in K. The older two are doing fine enough in terms of learning. The kindergartener is learning NOTHING from online school. Anything she's picked up is because I have been teaching her, and various educational apps have assisted.

I do not need childcare. I can do childcare portion of it just fine myself and have been doing it. I need school to reopen for at least the youngest one at least part-time because she is not learning via distance learning and neither is a lot of her friends, from talking to those kids' parents. Because I do not need school for childcare, I'd be fine with hybrid (part of the week, part of the day, whatever.) But no in-person school is not working for my youngest who is simply too young to learn through a screen.

Yes, yes, sure, I am teaching my kid myself and hopefully she won't be too far behind where she is supposed to be. But then the question becomes is if I am teaching my child by myself, why is the teacher collecting a paycheck for a job she is not doing in any effective way for my child (or the bulk of the children in that age group.) Some jobs cannot be effectively done from home and teaching very young children is one of them. I am fine for providing the child care component for all my children - the teachers are supposed to be providing effective teaching however. They are doing it for my two oldest because they are at the age where online learning is at least feasible if not ideal. They are not doing it for my youngest.

If people think it's OK for children, especially younger children, to fall behind (and let's face it, in a lot of families that are not as well off as the usual DCUM poster, fall behind irretrievably) so that teachers would feel safer, that's a position that can be argued. But at least don't be a hypocrite who claims that people only want childcare and that distance learning is just wonderful when for a lot of people that is not the case.

You are being really dramatic. You are teaching her yourself. She needs to know how to read, write and basic math. You get a few workbooks and apps and done. Regardless of school, you should do this anyway. She'll be fine.

What a bizarre argument against the value of professional early education teachers. I strongly disagree, and believe ECE teachers are incredibly skilled professionals doing an important job that I, as a parent, simply do not have the skills or experience to do effectively.

But apparently it's super easy and not even necessary and we should probably just cancel ECE and start school at like 2nd or 3rd grade. It's gonna be hard on all those teachers who spent years in school learning to do a union-protected job, but maybe they can find jobs making $18/hr as daycare teachers or nannies where they have no job security and minimal benefits.

Couldn’t agree with this more. I think the WTU’s and teachers’ positions that they’re jobs don’t need to be done in person can’t possibly bode well down the road. I see budget and pay cuts in the future if “a reading program can teach your Ker to read; they don’t need to be in school.” This is a self-defeating strategy and will backfire.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it will.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I don’t understand some of these talking points and can only hope they come from trolls and not the WTU and/or teachers. Diminishing the value of your labor is not a long term bargaining strategy. If true, we should just set up a great tv channel to educate the masses and let the parents deal with everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entire dialogue around Covid is insane.

Year to year - according to CDC - more folks die of heart disease and of cancer - not combined but in each of those categories.

It is unclear why children are being sacrificed. Yes - they can spread it but can we do an intelligent cost/benefit analysis on this?

In the DMV during this whole almost year now, nobody has focused on children or their needs. Its all about the teachers and their rights, darn it!

But great news, obese folks are priority for vaccines.

It's absurd.

410,000 Americans have died in a year of COVID19 and tens of thousands more have long-lasting severe medical conditions (including heart disease) as a result of having had this highly transmissible disease (which makes it quite unlike cancer or heart disease) and you’re still going with this absurd take? My uncle died of COVID19 last week, having believed exactly what you are saying, and we are almost certain he got it from one of his kids who is a high school teacher in a part of the country that’s open for school.

Your elderly uncle should not have been socializing with people who could be contagious.

[Anonymous]

The kids in that daycare study were 1-2 years old and not wearing masks. No one is saying kids shouldn't have to wear masks until teachers are vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1. As a European, it's really interesting to watch American liberals make this "you are on your own, fend for yourselves" argument when it comes to kids and families during the pandemic, while on the other hand calling for a "we are all in this together" approach when it comes to virus containment. European societies take a much more holistic approach to public health and community solidarity, one that balances the well-being and education of kids and the ability of families to maintain jobs with the need to contain the spread to protect those vulnerable to the virus, and most importantly, keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. That's why they are STILL keeping schools at least partially open in many places (misleading headlines notwithstanding), and will certainly not keep them closed for the rest of the year.

Thank you for this. I am an American but it is disturbing to me how much I hear liberal Americans espousing a view on the pandemic that is so focused on "personal responsibility" which is the same argument conservatives use to deny welfare benefits to single mothers or refuse asylum to immigrants.

The best possible response to a pandemic is communal. I think it can be hard to remember that in the US, where we have such an individualistic culture. Combine it with all the misinformation circulating (yes, I'm talking to you, PP who keeps posting links to a bunch of headlines in tweets to make your argument instead of engaging with what people are actually saying in the thread) and it's a recipe for disaster. If we leave families to just figure all of this out on their own, we will leave behind the vast majority of families.

It amuses me how parents here think they can just wish away data and scientific analysis. All spring and summer you were screaming for schools to open because 'kids aren't affected'. Now Europe/UK are reeling from a surge in viral cases and a mutation linked from their 'open no matter what' policies. It also turns out kids are carriers who are highly efficient at spreading the virus. Now you just want to ignore all that and still open schools because little Susie needs companionship.

Sorry. Gates closed. Figure it out.

Wait - now the open schools didn't only cause the surge (for which you have no evidence), they are also responsible for the mutation?

Also, it is still expert consensus that kids under the age of ten - and that is about whom we are talking here - are not "highly effective" spreaders of the virus. Nobody says they cannot spread it, but they spread it much less than older kids and adults.

You are one to talk about data and scientific analysis.

So did you miss the Ontario data? Because children under the age of 10 are just as likely, sometimes exceeding the rates of tweens/teens, to be contagious carriers of Covid-19 - above and beyond any other age group.

Weird right? Kind of matches what we've thought all along.


- Data courtesy of Dr. Fisman, University of Toronto Epidemiologist
https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1352351686514384896

Tweets do not make a scientific consensus.

The second 'tweet' is a linked peer-reviewed study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. But do keep on with your misinformation.

The CDC and Dr. Fauci have said schools should be open.