COVID Lockdowns Were a Giant Experiment. It Was a Failure.

[Anonymous]

It's been three years, all schools have been back open for 2.5-3 years. Why are you still obsessing over it? If it was that traumatizing for you, seek mental health treatment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still have no clue why all the playgrounds got fenced off and closed. WHY?!

We tried very hard to keep things normal for our small kids, but as parents we paid a heavy price. I changed a lot as a parent and also as a person. I had a great life beforehand filled with friends and relatives. It made me realize that you can't rely on anyone. Grandparents just huddled in their houses by themselves while kids had mental breakdown and parents nearly lost their jobs.

Yes I was changed as a person too. Became pretty jaded. My kid, surprisingly, did better - but I would never dream of denying that some kids were deeply affected.
As for the playgrounds - those in power had to “do something” and it was the easiest thing to do.

People were dying and your biggest worry was playgrounds. You can get a $100-200 swing set for your backyard. No backyard, go to a friends house.

Kids couldn't go to the playground, but hordes of people could gather en masse for BLM protests. With the explicit permission of public health officials.

See why some of us are jaded?

You could also go to a bar with the stipulation that the bar couldn't have stools at the bar top. But you could still stand at the bar top. I.e., the various rules were just a mix of stupid and form over substance. Various leaders just put in exceptions that worked for them and made rules for everybody else.

One of my favorite stupid COVID rules was for HS wrestling....the kids could wrestle each other, but at the end of the match they couldn't shake hands....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be great to have a non-partisan assessment of what worked and what didn’t work. Everything is so politicized and polarized it is ridiculous.

I think one important lesson is that schools stayed closed far too long, and we are paying a heavy price for that.

The kids paid a heavy price, and their parents. The people who made these decisions aren't paying anything and will never be held accountable.

You keep forgetting to mention the teachers who might have refused to go to work or quit if they had been forced back. Who was going to do the teaching? Why do you expect people to sacrifice for you?

This is the latest Democratic spin. “Oh we could not have opened schools! Teachers would have quit!” Do you think we are idiots? In DC right here, private and parochial teachers returnee. They returned in other states and in countries around the world. The reason blue city teachers refused to return is that their unions had political support and the Dems turned “keep schools closed” into a campaign promise, which is absolutely deranged. And then cowed public opinion by labeling any parent who dissented as a racist teacher-killer. Not to mention exaggerating the risk. We lived through it sweetie - we know what happened.

You’re full of it. It hasn’t been in blue states with robust teacher unions that schools have had to cut down to 4-day weeks—in 2023—because they’ve had so many staff walk away.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/education/more-school-districts-adopt-4-day-weeks-citing-lower-costs-and-better-teacher-recruitment

Per you, missing one day a week in person is NBD so not sure why you think this is a good point. Remember when Wednesdays had NO virtual instruction for no discernible reason? Good times!

I'm not sure where you get that idea. Having school permanently cut down to a 4 day a week activity is not a small thing. It's one thing when there's an emergency justification for it (yes, we had no Wednesday instruction either! not our favorite thing, but the context made it understandable).

When the justification for it is "we don't know, we just can't find enough people to run this thing 5 days a week" we are in very different terrain. And--back to your original false claim--that is not terrain that teacher unionism put us on. Bye.

Whatever connection you’re trying to make between covid policies and red state teacher retention is totally specious. We KNOW blue state teachers took advantage of the political power of unions to close schools. And if they thought they could get away with it they would absolutely go for a 4-day schoolweek everywhere. In fact Randi was floating that trial balloon.

No, she very definitely was not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still have no clue why all the playgrounds got fenced off and closed. WHY?!

We tried very hard to keep things normal for our small kids, but as parents we paid a heavy price. I changed a lot as a parent and also as a person. I had a great life beforehand filled with friends and relatives. It made me realize that you can't rely on anyone. Grandparents just huddled in their houses by themselves while kids had mental breakdown and parents nearly lost their jobs.

Yes I was changed as a person too. Became pretty jaded. My kid, surprisingly, did better - but I would never dream of denying that some kids were deeply affected.
As for the playgrounds - those in power had to “do something” and it was the easiest thing to do.

People were dying and your biggest worry was playgrounds. You can get a $100-200 swing set for your backyard. No backyard, go to a friends house.

Literally no one was dying of covid from open playgrounds. Don't be ridiculous.

Of course a kid could get Covid and bring it home to a parent or grandparents.

But that same kid would not bring it home if they attended a protest against racism. Because that was different.

It’s barely transmitted outdoors. If you were that distraught about the discrepancy you could have helped arrange school outside instead of making fun of people here who took steps to do that. It was a lot harder work, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be great to have a non-partisan assessment of what worked and what didn’t work. Everything is so politicized and polarized it is ridiculous.

I think one important lesson is that schools stayed closed far too long, and we are paying a heavy price for that.

The kids paid a heavy price, and their parents. The people who made these decisions aren't paying anything and will never be held accountable.

You keep forgetting to mention the teachers who might have refused to go to work or quit if they had been forced back. Who was going to do the teaching? Why do you expect people to sacrifice for you?

This is the latest Democratic spin. “Oh we could not have opened schools! Teachers would have quit!” Do you think we are idiots? In DC right here, private and parochial teachers returnee. They returned in other states and in countries around the world. The reason blue city teachers refused to return is that their unions had political support and the Dems turned “keep schools closed” into a campaign promise, which is absolutely deranged. And then cowed public opinion by labeling any parent who dissented as a racist teacher-killer. Not to mention exaggerating the risk. We lived through it sweetie - we know what happened.

You’re full of it. It hasn’t been in blue states with robust teacher unions that schools have had to cut down to 4-day weeks—in 2023—because they’ve had so many staff walk away.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/education/more-school-districts-adopt-4-day-weeks-citing-lower-costs-and-better-teacher-recruitment

Per you, missing one day a week in person is NBD so not sure why you think this is a good point. Remember when Wednesdays had NO virtual instruction for no discernible reason? Good times!

I'm not sure where you get that idea. Having school permanently cut down to a 4 day a week activity is not a small thing. It's one thing when there's an emergency justification for it (yes, we had no Wednesday instruction either! not our favorite thing, but the context made it understandable).

When the justification for it is "we don't know, we just can't find enough people to run this thing 5 days a week" we are in very different terrain. And--back to your original false claim--that is not terrain that teacher unionism put us on. Bye.

Whatever connection you’re trying to make between covid policies and red state teacher retention is totally specious. We KNOW blue state teachers took advantage of the political power of unions to close schools. And if they thought they could get away with it they would absolutely go for a 4-day schoolweek everywhere. In fact Randi was floating that trial balloon.

No, she very definitely was not.

yes she absolutely did until the reaction was negative. unions will push it as long as salaries arent cut.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/GMA/Family/schools-switching-4-day-weeks-working/story?id=102870420

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still have no clue why all the playgrounds got fenced off and closed. WHY?!

We tried very hard to keep things normal for our small kids, but as parents we paid a heavy price. I changed a lot as a parent and also as a person. I had a great life beforehand filled with friends and relatives. It made me realize that you can't rely on anyone. Grandparents just huddled in their houses by themselves while kids had mental breakdown and parents nearly lost their jobs.

Yes I was changed as a person too. Became pretty jaded. My kid, surprisingly, did better - but I would never dream of denying that some kids were deeply affected.
As for the playgrounds - those in power had to “do something” and it was the easiest thing to do.

People were dying and your biggest worry was playgrounds. You can get a $100-200 swing set for your backyard. No backyard, go to a friends house.

Literally no one was dying of covid from open playgrounds. Don't be ridiculous.

Of course a kid could get Covid and bring it home to a parent or grandparents.

But that same kid would not bring it home if they attended a protest against racism. Because that was different.

It’s barely transmitted outdoors. If you were that distraught about the discrepancy you could have helped arrange school outside instead of making fun of people here who took steps to do that. It was a lot harder work, though.

We caught it from an outdoor activity. You can if close contact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still have no clue why all the playgrounds got fenced off and closed. WHY?!

We tried very hard to keep things normal for our small kids, but as parents we paid a heavy price. I changed a lot as a parent and also as a person. I had a great life beforehand filled with friends and relatives. It made me realize that you can't rely on anyone. Grandparents just huddled in their houses by themselves while kids had mental breakdown and parents nearly lost their jobs.

Yes I was changed as a person too. Became pretty jaded. My kid, surprisingly, did better - but I would never dream of denying that some kids were deeply affected.
As for the playgrounds - those in power had to “do something” and it was the easiest thing to do.

People were dying and your biggest worry was playgrounds. You can get a $100-200 swing set for your backyard. No backyard, go to a friends house.

Literally no one was dying of covid from open playgrounds. Don't be ridiculous.

Of course a kid could get Covid and bring it home to a parent or grandparents.

But that same kid would not bring it home if they attended a protest against racism. Because that was different.

It’s barely transmitted outdoors. If you were that distraught about the discrepancy you could have helped arrange school outside instead of making fun of people here who took steps to do that. It was a lot harder work, though.

We caught it from an outdoor activity. You can if close contact.

+1

I know two people who got it at outdoor weddings in summer of 22. (separately)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's been three years, all schools have been back open for 2.5-3 years. Why are you still obsessing over it? If it was that traumatizing for you, seek mental health treatment.

Same. People are still obsessing over this shit. It happened. Why continually revisit and obsess over it? It's ok to do a post mortem but to dwell on it like people do?

And that goes for both sides of the issue,.

[Anonymous]

Well I hope everyone learned their lessons!
It was all fascinating for me to watch because I come from a place where people don’t trust their government. People from my community behaved very differently from the mainstream blue state crowd. Surreal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody who needs to hear this will. But the biggest problem for the first 6-9 months was that we had too many (ever hardening) opinions and too few facts. I do complex data analysis for a living. I was more prepared than most to take contradictory, imperfect information and make rational decisions. And I was in no way, shape, or form prepared to make the range of decisions I needed to for myself— and much more importantly my kids. Lots of people had opinions about what I should do. And they got ever louder and angrier and more hardened. But if you were trying to make evidenced based decisions, there were just too many unknowns.

In retrospect, having my college kid start on campus, in person in fall 2020 was the right call. At the time? Way too many unknown variables to make an informed decision. In the end, it came down too: am I more concerned for this particular kid about a possibly catastrophic cascade of cases when a bunch of college kids come together and his physical health being threatened because the small town healthcare system is overwhelmed? Or I more worried about the long term mental health consequences of him spending a year in the basement at this point in his life, given specific challenges he had dealt with in HS? And there were two crappy choices.In the end, I took a breath, said a prayer (and I am not religious) went with his mental health and sent him. But it was terrifying. Nothing went wrong. The college contained COVID very well, and it was the right call. BECAUSE WE GOT LUCKY. Not because I was smarter, or a better mom or am better at gauging risk.


2020 was the year of decision overload. Every day, there was a new decision to be made with very imperfect information. You can only make complex decisions about something as emotionally taxing the welfare of your kids in the absence of good information for so long before you burn out. I couldn’t. So most people gave up on assessing each decision and went into a “COVID=death” or “COVID is NBD” default position. And then hardened that position. Because if they were wrong, that were hurting their kids. And for a mom, that’s a horrible thought. So we all knew we were right because the alternative was so bad.

1.1M deaths. Millions more with Long COVID. Then again, years of learning loss and mental health issues for kids. My musician kid who did virtual lessons and didn’t play her instrument with another human being for a full year. Reality is we overreacted in some ways and undereacted in others. And, that there is no painless way out of a pandemic.

But here’s the thing. Fauci isn’t evil. Republicans and Dems aren’t evil. Teachers afraid for their health weren’t evil. Parents who were watching kids struggle and wanted teachers back in classrooms weren’t evil.

Now, I’m not talking about a year+ out, when we had vaccines and actual data, and mutated weaker strain. But, in 2020, most people did the best they could in stressful circumstances with limited information.

We would all do well to have some humility and empathy for other people with concerns different from our own who were also doing the best they could. And if your family made it through 2020 with everyone’s physical and mental and economic health intact, take a “there but for the grace of God” moment and realize that you weren’t smarter or morally superior because your kid made it through distance learning in one piece/ returned to school and didn’t bring home a virus that killed a member of your family. You were lucky. Full stop. And there are 1.1 million grieving families out there who were not.

Because when this happens again— which it might in our lifetimes, I still don’t know a better way to make decisions for my kids than what I did in 2020. But I do know a worse way to make decisions— and that’s with hubiris and with the assumption a future pandemic will behave like COVID and that because my family was lucky this time they’ll be lucky again.

TL;DR: if your family got out of 2020 in one piece, it wasn’t because you were “right” and “they” were “wrong”. We simply did not have enough high quality information for you (or anyone) to make smart decisions. You were lucky.

Peace Out, DCUM

Agree with you completely. And the hubris is scary. But they "know".

[Anonymous]

What's done is done. At this point you are better off looking forward and not back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's been three years, all schools have been back open for 2.5-3 years. Why are you still obsessing over it? If it was that traumatizing for you, seek mental health treatment.

Same for your health anxiety. Made progress on that yet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still have no clue why all the playgrounds got fenced off and closed. WHY?!

We tried very hard to keep things normal for our small kids, but as parents we paid a heavy price. I changed a lot as a parent and also as a person. I had a great life beforehand filled with friends and relatives. It made me realize that you can't rely on anyone. Grandparents just huddled in their houses by themselves while kids had mental breakdown and parents nearly lost their jobs.

Yes I was changed as a person too. Became pretty jaded. My kid, surprisingly, did better - but I would never dream of denying that some kids were deeply affected.
As for the playgrounds - those in power had to “do something” and it was the easiest thing to do.

People were dying and your biggest worry was playgrounds. You can get a $100-200 swing set for your backyard. No backyard, go to a friends house.

Literally no one was dying of covid from open playgrounds. Don't be ridiculous.

Of course a kid could get Covid and bring it home to a parent or grandparents.

But that same kid would not bring it home if they attended a protest against racism. Because that was different.

It’s barely transmitted outdoors. If you were that distraught about the discrepancy you could have helped arrange school outside instead of making fun of people here who took steps to do that. It was a lot harder work, though.

Unless it was an outdoor playground. Because then it would definitely transmit. Same goes for joggers on the sidewalk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been three years, all schools have been back open for 2.5-3 years. Why are you still obsessing over it? If it was that traumatizing for you, seek mental health treatment.

Same. People are still obsessing over this shit. It happened. Why continually revisit and obsess over it? It's ok to do a post mortem but to dwell on it like people do?

And that goes for both sides of the issue,.

1) Because we don't want it to happen again.

2) Because some of us were accused of racism, wanting Granny dead, or selfish because all we wanted was to get rid of our kids so we can go to pilates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be great to have a non-partisan assessment of what worked and what didn’t work. Everything is so politicized and polarized it is ridiculous.

I think one important lesson is that schools stayed closed far too long, and we are paying a heavy price for that.

The kids paid a heavy price, and their parents. The people who made these decisions aren't paying anything and will never be held accountable.

You keep forgetting to mention the teachers who might have refused to go to work or quit if they had been forced back. Who was going to do the teaching? Why do you expect people to sacrifice for you?

This is the latest Democratic spin. “Oh we could not have opened schools! Teachers would have quit!” Do you think we are idiots? In DC right here, private and parochial teachers returnee. They returned in other states and in countries around the world. The reason blue city teachers refused to return is that their unions had political support and the Dems turned “keep schools closed” into a campaign promise, which is absolutely deranged. And then cowed public opinion by labeling any parent who dissented as a racist teacher-killer. Not to mention exaggerating the risk. We lived through it sweetie - we know what happened.

You’re full of it. It hasn’t been in blue states with robust teacher unions that schools have had to cut down to 4-day weeks—in 2023—because they’ve had so many staff walk away.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/education/more-school-districts-adopt-4-day-weeks-citing-lower-costs-and-better-teacher-recruitment

Per you, missing one day a week in person is NBD so not sure why you think this is a good point. Remember when Wednesdays had NO virtual instruction for no discernible reason? Good times!

I'm not sure where you get that idea. Having school permanently cut down to a 4 day a week activity is not a small thing. It's one thing when there's an emergency justification for it (yes, we had no Wednesday instruction either! not our favorite thing, but the context made it understandable).

When the justification for it is "we don't know, we just can't find enough people to run this thing 5 days a week" we are in very different terrain. And--back to your original false claim--that is not terrain that teacher unionism put us on. Bye.

Whatever connection you’re trying to make between covid policies and red state teacher retention is totally specious. We KNOW blue state teachers took advantage of the political power of unions to close schools. And if they thought they could get away with it they would absolutely go for a 4-day schoolweek everywhere. In fact Randi was floating that trial balloon.

No, she very definitely was not.

yes she absolutely did until the reaction was negative. unions will push it as long as salaries arent cut.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/GMA/Family/schools-switching-4-day-weeks-working/story?id=102870420

Perhaps you are having reading challenges. The article says she’s against it.