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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you all could not be flexible during a major health crisis and only cared about yourselves, it speaks volumes. Normal childhood? Years ago, normal was being educated at home? Sounds like you all are ridged, inflexible and refuse to parent. What is going on at home that makes you so unhappy you cannot be at home. There are people with real health issues and you making fun of them screaming anxiety makes you a bully and this is probably why your kids struggled so much. It was not Covid but you. You have the mental health issues. It was really no big deal. If anything the slowed down life, dinner as a family and spending more time together brought us closer.

A job. Do you have one?

Ok, so, why are you posting here when you should be working. Clearly you have flexibility. How do you make it work summers? Everyone else made it work, why could you not?

Sensitive that you don't have a job where you're contributing to society?

I contribute plenty. Having a job is not necessarily contributing to society. It is contributing to your personal needs and household. If you did not work your job, someone else would. Or, it clearly isn't necessary.

This makes zero sense. Your job is essential if you didn't work it and someone else would. Contributing to your personal needs is nothing to brag about as a contribution. I'm embarrassed for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you all could not be flexible during a major health crisis and only cared about yourselves, it speaks volumes. Normal childhood? Years ago, normal was being educated at home? Sounds like you all are ridged, inflexible and refuse to parent. What is going on at home that makes you so unhappy you cannot be at home. There are people with real health issues and you making fun of them screaming anxiety makes you a bully and this is probably why your kids struggled so much. It was not Covid but you. You have the mental health issues. It was really no big deal. If anything the slowed down life, dinner as a family and spending more time together brought us closer.

I hope you're not a teacher and wrote ^ that mess. Yikes. So much going on.

Stop blaming teachers for your issues. Teachers were working.

No, y’all gave yourselves Wednesdays off … what a joke

Do you have any idea how much additional planning and preparation is required to deliver instruction virtually even 4 days a week when the entire structure was never set up for anything that was not in person?

If you really want to avoid disruption like it again, you should be advocating for more of that planning and preparation when it’s not a crisis—not carping more about how it happened when it was a crisis.

cry me a freakin’ river, complaining about how hard virtual was for teachers! My kid had instruction from 9-1 with a 1 hr lunch, and often times they just ended at 11. 4 days/week.

DP, and not a teacher. PP, you are not being fair. You can question the decisions, talk about harm, or propose different ideas for the future, but individual teachers did their best to deliver virtual instruction. Seriously, you are out of line.

The people out of line are the ones who think they deserve sympathy for how hard virtual was ON TEACHERS

I'm not a teacher, but I do feel sympathy for teachers. Virtual was hard on everyone. We can have compassion for everyone impacted negatively by the pandemic.

I don't think you really care about kids. You just hate teachers.

as the saying goes, you made your bed …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a liberal voter but trying to argue that virtual school wasn't a mistake is ridiculous. And I am a teacher!

This. I don't teach but my parents, sister, and SIL are all teachers (in a blue state that isn't on a coast). They all taught virtually in spring 2020 and then went back in person in August 2020 (hybrid in the fall and then full time in person by February when vaccines were available.

They all hate Trump and believe in science, and every one of them think how we handled it in the DMV is insane. My mom still advocates for us to move there because she worries for my youngest who did kindergarten remotely, and worries they'll close the schools again here. They hated teaching virtually and embraced hybrid (which also sucked but at least allowed for social distancing in person), masking, testing, etc., to be able to teach in person. My dad is a HS science teacher with a heart condition, and he would have retired if they stayed virtual any longer because he hated being out of the lab and trying to engage HS kids on Zoom.

DC is a huge outlier on this, but I think many people here don't have enough experience with other places to understand how much.

Why does she think they would close schools again? WTF. I wouldn't want to listen to someone thinking like that, either.

Because there could be another pandemic or emergency and she feels that the politicians and districts here showed that they don't prioritize the needs of kids or families in making policy decisions. The fact that bars and restaurants opened well before schools here astonishes her. It was the opposite where they are (Colorado) -- many restaurants stayed take out only for a full year, but they found a way to get schools open part-time in August, and that primed them to switch to full-time once vaccines happened. Part of what happened in DC is that the choice to do ZERO in person in August meant that it got harder and harder to open at all. Momentum was lost and people fought for status quo because it all felt unknown and scary. But if we'd just attempted to do some form of in person earlier, we could have built from there as vaccines came available.

The idea that you think there's no way they'd do the exact same thing again is surprising to me. That's the model we've established and no one in a position of power has acknowledged thatistakes were made.

You are exactly right. The decision to keep schools closed in fall 2020 was the inflection point that dragged everything out.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand - yes obviously it was an experiment. Was it ever presented otherwise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly at this point who cares. We did the best we could under a unique and heretofore inexperienced event. This is for scientists to be studying to plan for future pandemics. Getting angry now is ridiculous.

The problem is we weren’t allowed to ask questions and dissenting views were discouraged. Anytime you’re not allowed to ask questions or push back on something you should be concerned. The climate at the time didn’t allow questioning of precautions.

Because it was an EMERGENCY situation.
Having known several people who died or spent months in the hospital with Covid it was not something most of us wanted to just take our chances with.

This!!!

I'm a little tired of all the "insight" about Covid three years later. Many of us got a Covid strain that wasn't as serious as the initial round of infections.
Also, most people are vaccinated now so in addition to milder strains, vaccines keep people healthier and prescriptions like Paxlovid help too. We didn't have these things in 2020.
People forget there were trucks in NYC with people in body bags. Please stop saying young people were fine. That simply isn't true. They died in lower numbers compared to the elderly but that's true for everything.

There were a number of extreme Covid deniers and anti maskers who did eventually make it harder to ask questions.
In the end, don't we really need to remember this was something new and terrifying. Personally, I broke two teeth clenching my jaw at night as I watched the news about Covid.
I have a relative with Long Covid who likely won't ever get better. It's not just a cold for many and picking apart actions designed by people who were trying their best to protect us seems a little ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you all could not be flexible during a major health crisis and only cared about yourselves, it speaks volumes. Normal childhood? Years ago, normal was being educated at home? Sounds like you all are ridged, inflexible and refuse to parent. What is going on at home that makes you so unhappy you cannot be at home. There are people with real health issues and you making fun of them screaming anxiety makes you a bully and this is probably why your kids struggled so much. It was not Covid but you. You have the mental health issues. It was really no big deal. If anything the slowed down life, dinner as a family and spending more time together brought us closer.

I hope you're not a teacher and wrote ^ that mess. Yikes. So much going on.

Stop blaming teachers for your issues. Teachers were working.

They were? Then explain the learning loss. How did that happen?

My kids had zero learning loss. We helped them, made sure they logged on and did their work, used the free tutors and more. Why did you not do that? Most kids who struggled always struggled but were ignored. If a middle schooler was struggling it was because the school and parents failed them before all this. Many kids have lots of unidentified needs and parents like you expect the schools to 100 percent fix them which will never happen. My best explanation is the dumbed down curriculum because of complaining parents like you, and those who did not monitor their kids. Mine were fine. So, how was your house structured where your kids were not and what did you do about it vs complain?

Look honey. If you embrace such an individualist approach, you can hardly then blame everyone else who does the same. Why would I “stay home to stop the spread” or whatever goofy mortalistic slogan, when per you everyone is completely on their own when it comes to education? If that’s the case then f teachers, open the school for *my* kid.

But anyway, this has been my thought since people first started to argue that teachers were just logically asserting their own interests. OK then, teachers unions just lost a whole lot of supporters …

The schools were kept virtual for multiple reasons including low income families in multigenerational housing where grandma was living with them, to the fact sone of our schools have 3000 students plus families with multiple kids at different schools. Covid is highly contagious and was deadly. If you cannot understand this and get out of your privileged bubble there is no hope for you. Many kids lots parents and grandparents and other relatives. Maybe not in your privilege bubble, but in your helps bubble.

Really, why was virtual so bad in your home?

We now know that school closures were a mistake. That’s the entire point of this thread. The science does not support their closure and frankly the evidence against extended closures was there from the very beginning and was ignored.

Actually science DID support their going virtual - virtual wasn't closed. It wasn't a huge mistake and kids are back in person for over two years and the issues that those are complaining about are still happening so maybe virtual wasn't the issue and other things were.

Many kids had parents die from covid. I would think they'd prefer to have their parent living and be virtual than what actually happened. You live a charmed life so you have no concept of health issues or illness related deaths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you all could not be flexible during a major health crisis and only cared about yourselves, it speaks volumes. Normal childhood? Years ago, normal was being educated at home? Sounds like you all are ridged, inflexible and refuse to parent. What is going on at home that makes you so unhappy you cannot be at home. There are people with real health issues and you making fun of them screaming anxiety makes you a bully and this is probably why your kids struggled so much. It was not Covid but you. You have the mental health issues. It was really no big deal. If anything the slowed down life, dinner as a family and spending more time together brought us closer.

I hope you're not a teacher and wrote ^ that mess. Yikes. So much going on.

Stop blaming teachers for your issues. Teachers were working.

They were? Then explain the learning loss. How did that happen?

My kids had zero learning loss. We helped them, made sure they logged on and did their work, used the free tutors and more. Why did you not do that? Most kids who struggled always struggled but were ignored. If a middle schooler was struggling it was because the school and parents failed them before all this. Many kids have lots of unidentified needs and parents like you expect the schools to 100 percent fix them which will never happen. My best explanation is the dumbed down curriculum because of complaining parents like you, and those who did not monitor their kids. Mine were fine. So, how was your house structured where your kids were not and what did you do about it vs complain?

Look honey. If you embrace such an individualist approach, you can hardly then blame everyone else who does the same. Why would I “stay home to stop the spread” or whatever goofy mortalistic slogan, when per you everyone is completely on their own when it comes to education? If that’s the case then f teachers, open the school for *my* kid.

But anyway, this has been my thought since people first started to argue that teachers were just logically asserting their own interests. OK then, teachers unions just lost a whole lot of supporters …

The schools were kept virtual for multiple reasons including low income families in multigenerational housing where grandma was living with them, to the fact sone of our schools have 3000 students plus families with multiple kids at different schools. Covid is highly contagious and was deadly. If you cannot understand this and get out of your privileged bubble there is no hope for you. Many kids lots parents and grandparents and other relatives. Maybe not in your privilege bubble, but in your helps bubble.

Really, why was virtual so bad in your home?

We now know that school closures were a mistake. That’s the entire point of this thread. The science does not support their closure and frankly the evidence against extended closures was there from the very beginning and was ignored.

Actually science DID support their going virtual - virtual wasn't closed. It wasn't a huge mistake and kids are back in person for over two years and the issues that those are complaining about are still happening so maybe virtual wasn't the issue and other things were.

Many kids had parents die from covid. I would think they'd prefer to have their parent living and be virtual than what actually happened. You live a charmed life so you have no concept of health issues or illness related deaths.

Almost everything in this post is incorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a liberal voter but trying to argue that virtual school wasn't a mistake is ridiculous. And I am a teacher!

This. I don't teach but my parents, sister, and SIL are all teachers (in a blue state that isn't on a coast). They all taught virtually in spring 2020 and then went back in person in August 2020 (hybrid in the fall and then full time in person by February when vaccines were available.

They all hate Trump and believe in science, and every one of them think how we handled it in the DMV is insane. My mom still advocates for us to move there because she worries for my youngest who did kindergarten remotely, and worries they'll close the schools again here. They hated teaching virtually and embraced hybrid (which also sucked but at least allowed for social distancing in person), masking, testing, etc., to be able to teach in person. My dad is a HS science teacher with a heart condition, and he would have retired if they stayed virtual any longer because he hated being out of the lab and trying to engage HS kids on Zoom.

DC is a huge outlier on this, but I think many people here don't have enough experience with other places to understand how much.

Why does she think they would close schools again? WTF. I wouldn't want to listen to someone thinking like that, either.

Because there could be another pandemic or emergency and she feels that the politicians and districts here showed that they don't prioritize the needs of kids or families in making policy decisions. The fact that bars and restaurants opened well before schools here astonishes her. It was the opposite where they are (Colorado) -- many restaurants stayed take out only for a full year, but they found a way to get schools open part-time in August, and that primed them to switch to full-time once vaccines happened. Part of what happened in DC is that the choice to do ZERO in person in August meant that it got harder and harder to open at all. Momentum was lost and people fought for status quo because it all felt unknown and scary. But if we'd just attempted to do some form of in person earlier, we could have built from there as vaccines came available.

The idea that you think there's no way they'd do the exact same thing again is surprising to me. That's the model we've established and no one in a position of power has acknowledged thatistakes were made.

How often do people in positions of power -ever- acknowledge mistakes these days about anything? Our culture doesn't encourage it or reward it in any way. People just want blood and vengeance, not positive change and certainly not justice. If you wait on that, you'll be wasting a lot of precious time. I agree totally that mistakes were made, but I have no interest in spinning my wheels waiting from some confession from some school administrator somewhere or any such BS. I want people to evaluate where kids are now and figure out ways to help them. Period. I am not an educator and don't claim to have a grand plan for this, but I would be much more supportive of actions designed to help kids now than wasting time on witch trials.

And what model did we establish? Looked pretty off the cuff to me.

The fact that people like you and/or your relatives think the next pandemic will be exactly like the last...well, it actually doesn't surprise me. It saddens me. It goes right along with the poor a job most people did trying to follow what was going on with COVID. People throwing around grand statements about "the science" who clearly know nothing about science or how to read it or how to think about it. My biggest takeaway from the pandemic is that most people completely lack critical thinking skills. This thread and others like it that crop up every so often do nothing to indicate we've made any progress on this front.

God help us, I hope we don't have another pandemic in our lifetimes, but if we do, do you honestly not understand it will be a completely different virus? I have little faith we'll be prepared after the last one and esp. when I see threads like this one. People going on about what they "know" for next time. You know jack.

COVID was kind of weird that it targeted mainly the elderly but not little kids. Think about how many things we know of that have a disproportionate effect on the very young, the very old, pregnant women, etc. What if in the next pandemic, the virus disproportionately kills children (horrifying thought, I know, but this is a hypothetical to make a point). Will all of you on this thread and others that are "so worried about the children" be advocating to keep schools open all the time through that? Just because you think that was a mistake for COVID? I sure as hell hope not. But you talk like you "know" how we need to proceed in the next pandemic when you really have no F-in clue. No one does until we see what we are up against. Mistakes will be made while we try to figure that out. We can try to learn some things from the last one, but if you think you've got it all figured out, you're not only dim, you're dangerous. You'll resist public health recommendations out of some sense of righting the ship after this last pandemic with no real understanding of the consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you all could not be flexible during a major health crisis and only cared about yourselves, it speaks volumes. Normal childhood? Years ago, normal was being educated at home? Sounds like you all are ridged, inflexible and refuse to parent. What is going on at home that makes you so unhappy you cannot be at home. There are people with real health issues and you making fun of them screaming anxiety makes you a bully and this is probably why your kids struggled so much. It was not Covid but you. You have the mental health issues. It was really no big deal. If anything the slowed down life, dinner as a family and spending more time together brought us closer.

A job. Do you have one?

Ok, so, why are you posting here when you should be working. Clearly you have flexibility. How do you make it work summers? Everyone else made it work, why could you not?

Sensitive that you don't have a job where you're contributing to society?

I contribute plenty. Having a job is not necessarily contributing to society. It is contributing to your personal needs and household. If you did not work your job, someone else would. Or, it clearly isn't necessary.

I struck a nerve, apparently.

Yes, I'm sure you're a very important person on your fibromyalgia internet forums.

[Anonymous]

People who lost their businesses and income due to lockdowns care.
That should be very clear to those who post here, "who cares?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a liberal voter but trying to argue that virtual school wasn't a mistake is ridiculous. And I am a teacher!

This. I don't teach but my parents, sister, and SIL are all teachers (in a blue state that isn't on a coast). They all taught virtually in spring 2020 and then went back in person in August 2020 (hybrid in the fall and then full time in person by February when vaccines were available.

They all hate Trump and believe in science, and every one of them think how we handled it in the DMV is insane. My mom still advocates for us to move there because she worries for my youngest who did kindergarten remotely, and worries they'll close the schools again here. They hated teaching virtually and embraced hybrid (which also sucked but at least allowed for social distancing in person), masking, testing, etc., to be able to teach in person. My dad is a HS science teacher with a heart condition, and he would have retired if they stayed virtual any longer because he hated being out of the lab and trying to engage HS kids on Zoom.

DC is a huge outlier on this, but I think many people here don't have enough experience with other places to understand how much.

Why does she think they would close schools again? WTF. I wouldn't want to listen to someone thinking like that, either.

Because there could be another pandemic or emergency and she feels that the politicians and districts here showed that they don't prioritize the needs of kids or families in making policy decisions. The fact that bars and restaurants opened well before schools here astonishes her. It was the opposite where they are (Colorado) -- many restaurants stayed take out only for a full year, but they found a way to get schools open part-time in August, and that primed them to switch to full-time once vaccines happened. Part of what happened in DC is that the choice to do ZERO in person in August meant that it got harder and harder to open at all. Momentum was lost and people fought for status quo because it all felt unknown and scary. But if we'd just attempted to do some form of in person earlier, we could have built from there as vaccines came available.

The idea that you think there's no way they'd do the exact same thing again is surprising to me. That's the model we've established and no one in a position of power has acknowledged thatistakes were made.

How big are the schools there? It's far easier to reopen with smaller schools or schools able to social distance. We would not able to social distance or much else which was the issue. A small private with 100 kids and tons of space can far more easily do that than a public with 3000 kids.

Their schools are as big or bigger! Suburban schools in Denver are just as big as the ones around here. And schools in DCPS are tiny -- many of the elementaries have just a few hundred kids. Some of the charters even less.

I mean, do you hear yourselves? There's always an excuse as to why schools elsewhere reopened much earlier than here, but the are all BS. The DMV is not substantially different from any other large metropolitan area in terms of demographics, school size and resources, etc. In fact, much of the DMV is significantly richer than other places which should have made reopening more likely, not less.

The biggest thing the DMV lacked in terms of getting kids back in school? Will. The places that reopened schools, whether you are talking about Germany or Des Moines or Mexico City, did so because they view school as a fundamental part of a functional society, and knew kids and families would struggle mightily without it. So they found ways to do it, whether it was hybrid schedules, shortened school days, opening windows and having kids where winter coats to class, aggressive quarantine policies, etc. And then when vaccines came they were able to relax some of those restrictions but didn't have to change much else because schools were already open.

In the DMV, we adopted this attitude excuse-making and elaborate explanations for why we're different than other places. It was hubris, this unchangeable belief that we are smarter and more conscientious than all other people. We're not. We just care less about kids and families, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Please! Librarians did not want to go back to work so a few homeless people would not come to the library! In MoCo.
Poor students suffered tremendously by sitting next to the wall of libraries to get some "remote" schooling done while their parents had to work at McDonald's and Wegmans and Chipotle so YOU all could get your food.
Rich people are always the same, me, me, nad some more about me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a liberal voter but trying to argue that virtual school wasn't a mistake is ridiculous. And I am a teacher!

This. I don't teach but my parents, sister, and SIL are all teachers (in a blue state that isn't on a coast). They all taught virtually in spring 2020 and then went back in person in August 2020 (hybrid in the fall and then full time in person by February when vaccines were available.

They all hate Trump and believe in science, and every one of them think how we handled it in the DMV is insane. My mom still advocates for us to move there because she worries for my youngest who did kindergarten remotely, and worries they'll close the schools again here. They hated teaching virtually and embraced hybrid (which also sucked but at least allowed for social distancing in person), masking, testing, etc., to be able to teach in person. My dad is a HS science teacher with a heart condition, and he would have retired if they stayed virtual any longer because he hated being out of the lab and trying to engage HS kids on Zoom.

DC is a huge outlier on this, but I think many people here don't have enough experience with other places to understand how much.

Why does she think they would close schools again? WTF. I wouldn't want to listen to someone thinking like that, either.

Because there could be another pandemic or emergency and she feels that the politicians and districts here showed that they don't prioritize the needs of kids or families in making policy decisions. The fact that bars and restaurants opened well before schools here astonishes her. It was the opposite where they are (Colorado) -- many restaurants stayed take out only for a full year, but they found a way to get schools open part-time in August, and that primed them to switch to full-time once vaccines happened. Part of what happened in DC is that the choice to do ZERO in person in August meant that it got harder and harder to open at all. Momentum was lost and people fought for status quo because it all felt unknown and scary. But if we'd just attempted to do some form of in person earlier, we could have built from there as vaccines came available.

The idea that you think there's no way they'd do the exact same thing again is surprising to me. That's the model we've established and no one in a position of power has acknowledged thatistakes were made.

How big are the schools there? It's far easier to reopen with smaller schools or schools able to social distance. We would not able to social distance or much else which was the issue. A small private with 100 kids and tons of space can far more easily do that than a public with 3000 kids.

Their schools are as big or bigger! Suburban schools in Denver are just as big as the ones around here. And schools in DCPS are tiny -- many of the elementaries have just a few hundred kids. Some of the charters even less.

I mean, do you hear yourselves? There's always an excuse as to why schools elsewhere reopened much earlier than here, but the are all BS. The DMV is not substantially different from any other large metropolitan area in terms of demographics, school size and resources, etc. In fact, much of the DMV is significantly richer than other places which should have made reopening more likely, not less.

The biggest thing the DMV lacked in terms of getting kids back in school? Will. The places that reopened schools, whether you are talking about Germany or Des Moines or Mexico City, did so because they view school as a fundamental part of a functional society, and knew kids and families would struggle mightily without it. So they found ways to do it, whether it was hybrid schedules, shortened school days, opening windows and having kids where winter coats to class, aggressive quarantine policies, etc. And then when vaccines came they were able to relax some of those restrictions but didn't have to change much else because schools were already open.

In the DMV, we adopted this attitude excuse-making and elaborate explanations for why we're different than other places. It was hubris, this unchangeable belief that we are smarter and more conscientious than all other people. We're not. We just care less about kids and families, I guess.

Do you and others like you on this thread really believe that? Are you so traumatized that you actually believe the motivation was to hurt kids? Or lack of care about kids?

I am not arguing for keeping kids out of school or that kids shouldn't have gone back earlier than they did; far from it. But every time I read a post like yours that ends with a statement about hating kids or not caring, I just wonder what the F is wrong with you that this is your takeaway. That you actually believe that this was the motivation or that people you are arguing with online don't love their kids or don't care about kids. WTF. You need to get a grip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly at this point who cares. We did the best we could under a unique and heretofore inexperienced event. This is for scientists to be studying to plan for future pandemics. Getting angry now is ridiculous.

The problem is we weren’t allowed to ask questions and dissenting views were discouraged. Anytime you’re not allowed to ask questions or push back on something you should be concerned. The climate at the time didn’t allow questioning of precautions.

Because it was an EMERGENCY situation.
Having known several people who died or spent months in the hospital with Covid it was not something most of us wanted to just take our chances with.

This!!!

I'm a little tired of all the "insight" about Covid three years later. Many of us got a Covid strain that wasn't as serious as the initial round of infections.
Also, most people are vaccinated now so in addition to milder strains, vaccines keep people healthier and prescriptions like Paxlovid help too. We didn't have these things in 2020.
People forget there were trucks in NYC with people in body bags. Please stop saying young people were fine. That simply isn't true. They died in lower numbers compared to the elderly but that's true for everything.

There were a number of extreme Covid deniers and anti maskers who did eventually make it harder to ask questions.
In the end, don't we really need to remember this was something new and terrifying. Personally, I broke two teeth clenching my jaw at night as I watched the news about Covid.
I have a relative with Long Covid who likely won't ever get better. It's not just a cold for many and picking apart actions designed by people who were trying their best to protect us seems a little ridiculous.

Are you worried about me having chronic Lyme because Health insurance and medical establishments refuse to acknowledge that I am suffering and treat me?
Are you worried that your kids are outside where ticks can give them Lyme every minute of the day?
Nobody cares about one chronic illness but here you are worried about another? Why? What is your reasoning about caring about this specific one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a liberal voter but trying to argue that virtual school wasn't a mistake is ridiculous. And I am a teacher!

This. I don't teach but my parents, sister, and SIL are all teachers (in a blue state that isn't on a coast). They all taught virtually in spring 2020 and then went back in person in August 2020 (hybrid in the fall and then full time in person by February when vaccines were available.

They all hate Trump and believe in science, and every one of them think how we handled it in the DMV is insane. My mom still advocates for us to move there because she worries for my youngest who did kindergarten remotely, and worries they'll close the schools again here. They hated teaching virtually and embraced hybrid (which also sucked but at least allowed for social distancing in person), masking, testing, etc., to be able to teach in person. My dad is a HS science teacher with a heart condition, and he would have retired if they stayed virtual any longer because he hated being out of the lab and trying to engage HS kids on Zoom.

DC is a huge outlier on this, but I think many people here don't have enough experience with other places to understand how much.

Why does she think they would close schools again? WTF. I wouldn't want to listen to someone thinking like that, either.

Because there could be another pandemic or emergency and she feels that the politicians and districts here showed that they don't prioritize the needs of kids or families in making policy decisions. The fact that bars and restaurants opened well before schools here astonishes her. It was the opposite where they are (Colorado) -- many restaurants stayed take out only for a full year, but they found a way to get schools open part-time in August, and that primed them to switch to full-time once vaccines happened. Part of what happened in DC is that the choice to do ZERO in person in August meant that it got harder and harder to open at all. Momentum was lost and people fought for status quo because it all felt unknown and scary. But if we'd just attempted to do some form of in person earlier, we could have built from there as vaccines came available.

The idea that you think there's no way they'd do the exact same thing again is surprising to me. That's the model we've established and no one in a position of power has acknowledged thatistakes were made.

How big are the schools there? It's far easier to reopen with smaller schools or schools able to social distance. We would not able to social distance or much else which was the issue. A small private with 100 kids and tons of space can far more easily do that than a public with 3000 kids.

Their schools are as big or bigger! Suburban schools in Denver are just as big as the ones around here. And schools in DCPS are tiny -- many of the elementaries have just a few hundred kids. Some of the charters even less.

I mean, do you hear yourselves? There's always an excuse as to why schools elsewhere reopened much earlier than here, but the are all BS. The DMV is not substantially different from any other large metropolitan area in terms of demographics, school size and resources, etc. In fact, much of the DMV is significantly richer than other places which should have made reopening more likely, not less.

The biggest thing the DMV lacked in terms of getting kids back in school? Will. The places that reopened schools, whether you are talking about Germany or Des Moines or Mexico City, did so because they view school as a fundamental part of a functional society, and knew kids and families would struggle mightily without it. So they found ways to do it, whether it was hybrid schedules, shortened school days, opening windows and having kids where winter coats to class, aggressive quarantine policies, etc. And then when vaccines came they were able to relax some of those restrictions but didn't have to change much else because schools were already open.

In the DMV, we adopted this attitude excuse-making and elaborate explanations for why we're different than other places. It was hubris, this unchangeable belief that we are smarter and more conscientious than all other people. We're not. We just care less about kids and families, I guess.

Do you and others like you on this thread really believe that? Are you so traumatized that you actually believe the motivation was to hurt kids? Or lack of care about kids?

I am not arguing for keeping kids out of school or that kids shouldn't have gone back earlier than they did; far from it. But every time I read a post like yours that ends with a statement about hating kids or not caring, I just wonder what the F is wrong with you that this is your takeaway. That you actually believe that this was the motivation or that people you are arguing with online don't love their kids or don't care about kids. WTF. You need to get a grip.

DP. This is the problem with narcissists like you. Insult those that do not get your insane way of thinking.