Maryland is in last place in the entire country for opening schools

[Anonymous]

Good. We’re less criminally negligent than the rest of the country.

[Anonymous]

California has more students, so really they have more distance learning than Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Come to Carroll where they’re (BOE) demanding schools be open 4/week for all students by 3/22.

No. No thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We also have also have some of the best advice in the country. (NIH, Johns Hopkins, Federal govt, etc.)

Who all said to open schools.

This.

[Anonymous]

Either way, opening or not opening is going to be a debate.
At least the schools give the parents the option to stay virtual.
You are not forced to go back in person, not even the teachers. Teachers have options. Not all will go back. And some want to go back and some do not. The biggest risks are with principals, office workers and maintenance workers that must go back if they haven't done so already. And of course bus drivers.

But, because there are limited vaccine, people are not getting their vaccine in time and there are some that choose not to get the vaccine, so, you have that problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Need to do a side by side with a map of dead/sick teachers for this to be instructive/convincing

Links?

No one is keeping track, but here are a few links:

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/cobb-county-school-board-under-fire-after-3-teacher-deaths/85-8a585a86-90e1-4228-985e-ae0834866c5d
January:
Protests, backlash from teachers after deaths of 3 Cobb County educators in a month
In the last 30 days, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of three educators. Teachers say the situation has become cause for concern for their health and safety.

Teacher in an open academy in dc:
https://www.wusa9.com/mobile/article/news/education/ballou-stay-opportunity-academy-teacher-death-covid-19-washington-teacher-union-policy-changes/65-c697e78a-d7c7-4593-a586-3c731b20e1ab

As of October, 8 teachers in North Carolina had already died of Covid: https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-north-carolina-school-teacher-dies-covid-stanly-county-norwood-elementary-1536438

If you Google teacher death name of state you will see them. Like, teacher death Georgia, teacher death Florida, etc..

The country is approaching 500,000 deaths, so of course some of those people will be teachers. But the number is small and even smaller when you consider cases where there is some reason to believe the transmission resulted from school.

Oh, so you don't care. Your special children can't transmit the virus, and even if they can, the teacher probably got it from somewhere else anyhow. Got it.

We have no idea what the numbers are, because no one is keeping track. And no one seems to care. It's why I will.nwver go back to work as a teacher again.

McSweeneys is sarcasm, but it rings true:
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/as-a-superhero-teacher-i-cant-wait-to-sacrifice-my-unvaccinated-life-for-your-child

"McSWEENEY’S
Daily humor almost every day since 1998

FEBRUARY 16, 2021
AS A SUPERHERO TEACHER, I CAN’T WAIT TO SACRIFICE MY UNVACCINATED LIFE FOR YOUR CHILD
by SUMMER KOESTER

“The nation’s top public health agency said Friday that in-person schooling can resume safely with masks, social distancing and other strategies, and that vaccination of teachers, while important, is not a prerequisite for reopening.”
— Associated Press, 2/12/21

- - -
Many teachers’ unions across the country are insisting that teachers be vaccinated before reopening schools. Honestly, I don’t understand my fellow educators. Did they forget that we’re superheroes? I mean, I have a bumper sticker, mug, and pencil eraser that says I’m a superhero. If novelty shops can accept this truth, why can’t everyone else?


“This is the kind of magazine you keep on your bookshelves with your favorite books.”
— Cece Bell, author of El Deafo
As a teacher, why wouldn’t I sacrifice my unvaccinated life for my students? Blessed as I am with superpowers, it is my moral obligation to field sneezes and coughs so that parents can pee in peace and wear cute pants without the peril of getting covered in Elmer’s glue. Mere mortals can’t survive the perils of working with little humans.

Look at the poor parents drowning at home, pulling their hair out. They need a break. They need therapy. They need someone to serve them a bologna sandwich with the crust cut off, to clean up the mess after they paint their feelings all over the wall with chalk pastel, and to tell them they should be proud of their work.

Teachers, on the other hand, do not. We are David and this crisis is a Goliath that only superhumans like us can defeat. Victory calls! No, we do not need a vaccine first because there is no time to waste — the fate of humanity rests on our shoulders!

Come on, teachers, we can do this. We’ve done it before. COVID’s got nothing on the mental and emotional toll of psyching up our bodies to be human shields in the event of an active shooter. We have wiped noses, dried tears, and doled out hugs during flu season after traumatizing our students with active shooter drills. We have nearly exploded our bladders and sacrificed our lunch so hungry students could eat. We’ve sprayed down every surface with bleach until we saw double and perforated our esophagi. Just as Batman fights the Joker, and Spider-man battles the Elementals, teachers confront the black mold and asbestos that lurks in our classrooms’ walls.


“Gentle, playful and laced with subtle wit, these essays are a welcome balm in an insane and un-gentle time.”
—Mary Gaitskill, author of This is Pleasure and Bad Behavior
Why do we do it?

We do it for love, free bumper stickers, and Facebook posts expressing how much everyone values us during this time while they send their unvaccinated children back to school. We also do it because we are modern-day superheroes who make on average $60,000 a year with six-plus years of higher-education debt and interest that we are still paying off.

So teachers, let’s buck up and stop crying about not getting vaccinated. Instead, let’s put on our capes, double masks, and face shields, and set up some plexiglass and a couple HEPA filter air purifiers.

Okay, maybe not HEPA filters — we can’t afford those."

She may think she is being witty or something, but this kind of hyperbole does not help her cause.

[Anonymous]

Have you noticed that MCPS has a very low infection rate?

[Anonymous]

Excellent.

I am happy to hear that, given the rest of the country has been criminally negligent.



Thanks for posting, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aren't we also one of the most educated counties in the country? That might tell you something.

Because of private schools and people who brought their degrees from other places and settled here? then maybe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you noticed that MCPS has a very low infection rate?

Why would we differ from DC or NOVA since all the folk here mingle all the time, we do not live in a bubble.

495 yesterday...

[Anonymous]

DC is actually last but it’s never counted in any of the data. Consider yourself lucky, at least your Governor is trying to open schools. Our scaredy cat useless Mayor is only interested in making sure restaurants are open.

[Anonymous]

I'm not afraid of dying of covid. Afraid of living with long covid.

[Anonymous]

Good. Most parents don't want their kids to go back right now, and are mostly selecting virtual. Why stop now, when vaccination is finally getting going.

[Anonymous]

Are Maryland counties in the red, orange, or yellow zone right now?





Anne Arundel County: RED

total new cases per 100,000 past 7 days =. 157
positivity = 7.3%


Prince George's County: RED

total new cases per 100,000 past 7 days = 139
positivity = 6.3%

Montgomery County: ORANGE

total new cases per 100,000 past 7 days =. 78
positivity = 8.3%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We also have also have some of the best advice in the country. (NIH, Johns Hopkins, Federal govt, etc.)

Who all said to open schools.

This.

People like this PP are pretty representative of a lot of people in the DC area. They "follow the science" as long as it's in line with their preconceptions.

It's amazing how people in the area are fine with throwing kids under the bus.