Comments on: If I Can Be Safe Working as An ER Doctor Caring for COVID Patients, We Can Make Schools Safe for Children, Teachers, and Families

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 12:40:17 +0000

“So things are much different now, but then I also have massive amounts of staff support and our network is willing to spend the money to make us safer.”

That’s what’s different about schools that can’t be compared to Hospitals. Hospitals were already geared for infection control in a controlled, closed work place before covid and they have way more money than our defunded public schools. I’m not so worried about the younger students, it’s all students with the potential to take covid home to their families and the teachers who have no control.

As for risk, no one knows the risk as there is no wide spread contact tracing and testing with varying community adherence to compliance.

By: Steve2

Steve2 — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 00:30:49 +0000

I do OR and ICU. We did a couple of tracks on Covid puts in th last week, and while these are considered high risk procedures I felt pretty safe. But then I had a lot of Hazmat training and did some teaching in the military. Like a lo to fuss I was worried since I didn’t know what we were facing when this started in March. Now we know what to expect. At first we weren’t sure we would have enough PPE and equipment was always tight. Now we mostly are OK.

So things are much different now, but then I also have massive amounts of staff support and our network is willing to spend the money to make us safer. Schools don’t have that support, they don’t have the training and i have ni idea where the money is coming from. The wife and I have helped with our speech and debate team for years. When we go to the poorer, rural schools a lot of them are in poor condition. Where are schools going to get all of the personnel to help when teachers need to stay out? Are teachers going to be pressured to not wear masks? That is my bet.

Going back to school is important for our kids. Agree on that. It could be done safely, if we had schools take it as seriously as they should, but they won’t.

Steve

By: Barry Carol

Barry Carol — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 01:59:10 +0000

Peter — Nationwide, Catholic school enrollment declined from 5.2 million in the 1960’s to 1.7 million today. The reasons include: families having fewer children than 50 years ago, the drastic decline in the number of nuns which necessitated a steady increase in tuition as they were replaced by lay teachers, which, in turn, meant more parents could no longer afford to send their kids to Catholic school and middle class families moving out of cities to suburbs with decent public school systems. None of that has anything to do with COVID-19. The vast majority of Catholic schools that existed last year still exist this year while a few have closed. I repeat that around here, the Catholic schools are open for in-person learning while many public schools are not.

As for air filtration, better air filters are not that expensive. I could upgrade the air filter in my house for less than $100. It doesn’t involve completely revamping or replacing the HVAC system.

We can’t expect to reduce COVID-19 risk to zero before determining that it’s safe to reopen schools. In a bad flu year, we’ve had up to 61,000 deaths including many children but we don’t shut everything down.

By: Barry Carol

Barry Carol — Sat, 19 Sep 2020 02:23:58 +0000

It’s interesting to note that here in NJ the Catholic schools, which must satisfy customers who pay tuition, are largely open for full time in person learning and doing fine so far. The public schools are mostly using hybrid systems meaning open a couple of days a week and virtual on other days or they are completely virtual. The teachers unions don’t seem to want their members to return to work unless the perceived risk of getting COVID-19 is at or near zero. In the meantime, besides hospital workers, police, fire, and sanitation workers along with bus drivers and subway employees plus grocery clerks, truck drivers and others continue to show up for work every day.

Virtual learning is not a very good substitute for in person learning even for kids from relatively prosperous families. For low income kids, it’s a disaster. We need to make accommodations for teachers who are older or have diseases and conditions that make them especially vulnerable to contracting COVID-19 but the vast majority of teachers and other school employees need to return to work. In school buildings, ensuring that the air filtration system is rated at least MERV-13 or higher would be helpful and reassuring to both employees and students.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 19:28:33 +0000

“As a mom of four young children,” “the most privileged families are forming pods and hiring private tutors or enrolling in private schools.”

Were your kids enrolled in private or public school? Are you one of the “most privileged families” above? Would you send your kids back to public school?

I think you’d be right if Trump had done what was needed back in March, even February, as we now know he knew the truth about Covid then. But the administration has failed to contain the virus sufficiently to make schools safe, let alone any other gathering of people. Why would we trust the safety of kids wearing masks when it’s possible their Republican parents don’t wear masks. Many universities tried opening, but shut quickly after their students could not resist a party atmosphere to spread covid. I don’t think it will be any different with other schools.

And who’s going to pay for all of your ideas, especially in defunded public schools?

I agree with your measures for schools, but only if those measures are being used by the entire community.