And the “hunger games” continue at the group level as well as the individual level…
1 Like
I wish the CDC would stop calling it safe. It’s not safe. It’s less risky. They really don’t know for sure. And I have little confidence in the schools reporting the cases and spread. I know plenty of cases contracted in our schools that were not reported. Not to mention in my govt workplace, we had 20% of a 150 person department come down with it in a 10 day span. But yet, that was not recorded as an outbreak. Really?
And the fact that a teacher is young and healthy should not matter. Plenty of young healthy people now have long term and maybe permanent damage. All teachers should have been vaccinated by now IMO. Vaccinate the teachers/staff (including day care) and open them back up. Virtual should still be an option for those who are worried about their kids bringing it home.
3 Likes
I agree with you but we are also opening up restaurants. Is it safe for servers? You have to unmask to eat, yet that is considered safe! Kitchens are small, people have to be together in a very small space. With people in a closed building unmasking to eat.
There are a thousand other situations.
I don’t disagree but there are hard decisions to make. To open, not to open. To work or not to work. All of these things stink. Customers get to decide whether or not to dine inside. The people who work there, they probably need to work.
1 Like
Oh I know, and I didn’t mean to bite your head off. 
The whole “it safe” thing is a hot button for me. Schools need to be open for kids to learn and parents to get back to work. It seems to make sense they should get it. But as you said, restaurant workers and others too… It’s is a hard choice.
1 Like
My D’s school that she teaches at is planning to bring kids back to the classrooms in mid April. Teachers are now eligible for the vaccine here in San Diego County, but it is impossible to get an appointment. Both my D and I are trying throughout the day to secure an appointment for her with no luck yet.
1 Like
It also likely varies across schools, so that one size does not fit all. Schools in buildings where they open lots of windows and doors are probably considerably less risky than schools in buildings where many classrooms have no windows and a lower quality HVAC system.
But yes, it does make sense to time reopening schools to after teachers and staff have full vaccination rather than before. What is actually going on is another example of reopening or wanting to reopen things just before vaccination, instead of just after vaccination. I.e. with victory (through vaccination) in sight, this is like giving up or slacking off early and giving the virus one more chance to surge.
3 Likes
Agree to include educators/teachers if they work in person or plan to do so when vaccinated.
1 Like
YES. one size does not fit all EVEN in a small segment of the population, say teachers. Not all schools have windows that open. The CDC guidelines of what is safe is under their drawn up ideal conditions. Kids don’t keep their masks on all the time - or all the time PROPERLY. They have masks that don’t fit or are stretched out. Kids get out of those 6 ft spaced desks. The desks move as kids get up change class. The infographic scenario is NOT the real scenario.
We do see things through our own lenses. I sure hope though that people don’t ONLY see through their own lenses. “We, not me”.
3 Likes
“why not wait the extra 2-3 weeks till staff is fully vaccinated?”
Because…the…science!
(Or, at least its the best info we have today, unless CDC and Fauci are lying.)
1 Like
NC announced vaccination of all college students starts March 24
5 Likes
And people are also assuming all kids and staff are wearing masks. A family member is a teacher whose school administration has determined that teachers aren’t allowed make kids wear masks - even though there is a governor’s mandate for them to do so. They’ve been open as a hybrid all year - and yes, with lots of cases where people and students just disappear. I know of at least one staff member who has died
And people actually think that’s a lot! Texas is 48th in vaccine administration but people keep saying but we’ve vaccinated more people than almost every other state and we’re doing so great. Omg, they can’t do math. Of course they’ve given so many, they’re one of the most populous states. That’s like saying Rhode Island is the worst state because they’ve given so few. Duh! These people have no idea what per capita means and that you have to compare vaccines administered per capita and they’re at the bottom. Then add the number of cases there, I think over 50k last week, still way too many. Their cases aren’t 0, they’ve plateaued and now they’re going to go right back up. Oh wait, it’s not easy to get a test there either, so of course one more thing to suppress. The one good thing is on CNBC they’ve mentioned a lot of companies are not getting rid of the mask mandate. Let’s see what happens.
Just saw the announcement - teachers are now allowed to play in the Thursday morning Hunger Games in MA starting on March 11 to get vaccinated at mass sites. Never mind that most of them are actually working on Thursday morning and can’t sit in the virtual waiting room for hours waiting until their slot comes up.
1 Like
Michigan is vaccinating through the school systems. If you go to the county health department website, it says school employees DO NOT CONTACT US. Your school will be administer vaccines. They have clinics set, I think I read that 60% of school employees have had at least one dose of the vaccine.
Of course that means that the groups eligible for the vaccine is much more limited than other states. As I’ve been complaining all over CC recently! 
I do understand what people are saying about kids not keeping their masks on and their behavior. I also would tell you, my grocery store is having the same problems! No masks, masks around their chins, masks under the nose, it runs the gambit! Went to the grocery this morning, first time in a while, I usually do pick up.
I teach in a school and it is safe. It is up to the school however, to make it so. If a school isn’t willing to go the extra yard to put measures in place then it may not be safe. There are recent reports and data also that show the teachers themselves are more likely to spread the virus to the students and that teachers are the ones bringing it to the school and spreading it to one another, not getting it from the students. Why? Because teachers are sitting in teacher lounges eating lunch together in close proximity, they’re in meetings together taking off their masks, they’re sitting in their rooms without their masks with doors open, etc. It happens. I walked into a lounge at my school and there were 4 people just sitting in there with no mask on. They weren’t eating either, they just wanted a place to sit that they didn’t need to wear a mask. Ridiculous.
The kids are being tested twice a week and there is optional testing for the teachers. This was going on before vaccines were available. Then vaccines became available in our county, although I was able to get in through another county beforehand. When teachers still weren’t successful. the district arranged for all those who wanted to get it. The district my son goes to arranged for every staff member including bus drivers, food workers and subs to get the vaccine through Walgreens.
It’s scary at first but if a school does it right and the people in the school abide by the rules and don’t take off the masks, social distance, etc. then they are way less likely to have any issues than have any. I have been in a school since September, with the exception of Nov-Jan when they went on an adaptive pause, although I did go in on a few weekends to help with the ACT.
3 Likes
I don’t expect perfect compliance, but I will say of the numerous schools, both public and private open around me, none of the teachers are complaining of mask compliance among the kids. They seem to be doing just fine with it, and have since September.
2 Likes
Have you tried Walgreens? I just got my daughter an appointment yesterday for this Friday in San Diego and second dose in April. It was so easy that I won’t believe it until she actually gets there on Friday. I worry she will show up and either there won’t be any doses or they will say she isn’t eligible (as of last Saturday, she qualifies as a “food and agriculture” employee). Walgreens only offers appointments three days in advance, but when I logged in yesterday, there were multiple appointments available both Thurs and Fri at various locations around San Diego. I don’t know when Walgreens updates appointments, but it was around 10:30am EST when I secured the appointments for her.
@me29034 , you are correct–teachers simply enter the Hunger Games with the 75+, 65+, and the co-morbidities crowd.
Why not vaccinate teachers at school (or at some smaller venues than stadia), taking a few thousand out of the meager allotment each week?
2 Likes
I think it is only college students in congregate living settings (dorm, fraternity, sorority) but this is still a lot of students.
March 24 is also the date my husband will become eligible, which is super exciting!
Our school district here in NC set up a one day clinic for our teachers and also gave them the day off to be sure they could get there. I think this was a good approach.
1 Like
@4kids4us Thank you for letting me know about Walgreens. D was able to secure an appointment for next Tuesday at a CVS and was able to schedule her second appointment also. If this all works out that she gets both vaccines then the vaccine should be at full effectiveness by the time she returns to the classroom on 4/12.
2 Likes