I’ve been watching the smart people at the top of the university hierarchy slowly realize that there’s still a pandemic going on, and that they should have sane policies in place to protect the students and staff — you know, the people who do the actual work of the university and interact with students, which they, fortunately for them, don’t have to do. So we have restored mask requirements in university buildings and will be imposing a vaccination requirement, all sensible, practical actions that I’m surprised took them so long to do. I’d applaud, except that it could only be interpreted as mockery because it would be a bit like giving the rich kid in the class an “A” because he drove to class in his Maserati one day. You don’t get prizes for doing the bare minimum.
Well, maybe I should praise them a little bit more because jesus fucking christ, look at Morris Area Schools, our public school district, has established as the rules for the coming school year. The school board thinks the pandemic is over!
So, no face masks, social distancing is treated with ambiguity (there isn’t going to be any social distancing), there will be no distance learning option, and oh hell no they aren’t going to require vaccinations for anyone. You may notice that there is a jarring difference in one aspect of the public school experience: the kids have to wear masks on the bus, and they have to be fairly thorough in cleaning them. That’s because the buses are regulated by state and federal laws, while once the kids are released into the schools, local control is imposed.
Here’s what you need to know to understand the basis for this lack of sense: Morris public schools are under the control of an apostolic religious cult. They pack the school board — they can do that, because they all vote as a bloc under the influence of their religious leaders — and they have undue influence because they threaten to pull all their kids out of the Morris high school and send them to another small town district, and enrollment affects state funding. It goes without saying that of course they are profoundly conservative wankers who voted for Donald Trump. They’ve also been expanding their business holdings in Morris, which is worrisome. Stevens County is darned close to becoming a theocracy, where the women are all required to wear dresses and grow their hair long and pin it up into a bun. It’s just weird and rather disturbing.
I guess we can hope they all die off thanks to COVID-19, except…why did they have to start with infecting the kids? The children don’t deserve this.
Here’s one strong response from a mother responding to the similar ineffectuality of the Chattanooga school district:
🔥EMAIL FROM CHATTANOOGA MOM TO @hamcoschools (Chattanooga): “Since you made the mask policy optional, I intend to opt my daughter out of the dress code. Please make note.” @NoogaHoller pic.twitter.com/Xvv26Q1Vnm
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 12, 2021
Although it won’t help to be able to opt out of an irrational pandemic response, because the threat requires communal cooperation.
Communal cooperation equals communism which is evil. Joe Stalin would impose masks, social distancing, and nanobot shots as would Mao. Neither drank distilled water nor pure grain alcohol as proper Americans do.
Having right wing scum on school boards is another goal for the right.
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2021/08/right-wing-astroturf-group-training-thousands-to-run-for-school-boards-in-fight-against-socialist-brainwashing
It’s as if all the districts in the area are crafting their policy from the same template. (Though its shocking the Morris will offer vaccine education). Sauk Centre – https://www.isd743.org/Page/2792
Here is the Osakis super playing to his base. https://flipgrid.com/s/b-RrA-R4bQBo
This is weird.
It’s also a mistake.
The Morris school district is pretty much guaranteed to have an outbreak of Covid-19 virus and soon after the Fall quarter starts.
That is what has been happening in school districts with low vaccination rates.
In my local area, schools went back to limited and restricted in person instruction in the spring. The health authorities kept a list of which schools had outbreaks of the Covid-19 virus. It was more or less all of them. This was before Delta. Delta is way worse.
Somebody should do something about those murderous wankers.
(Looks at calendar. Lightbulb moment! Fetches hockey mask)
Xpost from the infinite thread
Yesterday, I talked with a friend who is now working in a large hospital ICU.
It’s what we’ve all been hearing lately.
Their ICU is full up with Covid-19 virus patients, 100% full.
This has never happened before. It was always a few here and a few there.
They are expecting more Covid-19 virus patients and trying to figure out where to put them.
Almost all of them are unvaccinated, of course.
There is no end in sight for this pandemic. The best I’ve heard from experts in the field is “maybe next year.” They don’t know either.
The Morris school district is going to have a serious and dangerous collision with reality, when their kids go back to school.
The Delta variant is much more transmissable than previous strains. It is likely also more pathogenic in both children and adults.
Is there any way to open a class action against the orchs on the school boards once a thousand kids have been infected and brought the virus home with them?
#4: What an asshole. He just comes right out and declares that their school district is going to defy CDC recommendations.
I am so glad I no longer have any kids in the public schools.
Suit. Class action suit.
There’s some litigation in Florida against DeSantis et al over the masking mandate limitations using an ADA angle:
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/446565-ron-desantis-mask-optional-order-draws-lawsuit-from-parents-of-students-with-disabilities/
There’s an article on the BBC main page today that 3 teachers and a teachers aide died within 24 hours of each other in Broward Cty Florida. Three of the four were unvacinated, and it’s not clear what the status of the 4th was. The school year there hasn’t even started.
So…it’s not just the kids. I’m glad that Newsom is requiring all California school staff to be vaccinated or tested weekly (which isn’t often enough, but at least it’s something). fortunately, my 13-year-old grandson has already been vaccinated, and long enough ago (almost 2 months, now) for it to be effective.
Field trips? WTF?
My oldest starts kindergarten in-person in a few weeks. It’s definitely a worrying time. Fortunately, I live in a very progressive area, with a high (> 80% over 12 yo) vaccination rate. I also feel like the schools administrators here are taking the pandemic seriously (mandatory masks for all regardless of vax status; vax requirements for all teachers & staff or weekly testing; randomized ongoing pool testing for monitoring purposes; supportive of remote learning; etc). I guess what I’m saying is that it certainly seems possible to do this right, even in the U.S.
Then again, in my midwestern home state they are refusing to wear masks, equate vaccines to the devil’s work, and are self-medicating with deworming medications given to livestock. I’m amazed the are has enough teachers left to even make reopening the schools possible.
And another thing, all these local schools have policies in place where “health and safety” is the stated purpose – Bullying, Bus Idling, Background Checks, Communicable Diseases, Drug and Alcohol Testing, etc . . . (Many of the districts have the exact same wording which means the MN School Boards Association wrote the text).
Will this glaring violation of these policies be the crux of lawsuits, as some have suggested? Our board members are well aware of these contradictions because the nurse explained one policy in detail at the public meeting and other staff have commented, too. What rankles some is that they have been disciplined over petty violations of district policies, yet citizen board members can go full steam ahead with the rest of us paying the price.
From a strategy standpoint, the board members are smart. 1) They can show their neighbors/base they are being defiant in standing up to medical elitists. 2) If the whole thing goes south and government has to step in, they can still posture defiantly against the new mandates (notice all the statements from them include language that policies may change if directed to). 3) Any legal ramifications will be covered by insurance (read: taxpayers). 4) The medical professionals who have spoken out in their districts are all hamstrung by the fact that they hope their warnings are wrong and people stay healthy.
In many ways this dissent by the anti-maskers is a proxy, a retaliation, for the failed reelection of their Trump.
This freedom over social responsibility is so stupid. As many are puting forward if you can’t enforce masks you can’t enforce a dress code. What about laws against spitting or pissing in a public space? What about laws for which side of the road you drive on? These folks are dangerous jerks and laws mandating vaccines and masks should exist following the science.
Copypasting myself from Discord:
Say what you want about the Austrian Oak, but he is on point here. He is expert on building biceps. People like Fauci are expert on the viruses. Screw your freedom. Freedom entails obligations and responsibilities (!!!). “When you breathe you can infect someone else”. Q-freaks…meet The Terminator:
https://youtu.be/8s1VglkDNmc
“This freedom over social responsibility is so stupid.”
Remember that modern republicans and libertarian since forever have been total assholes with the mindset of spoiled 4-year old kids, namely: “I deserve everything, you deserve nothing”
The difference is that most 4-year olds grow out of that mindset. Republicans and libertarians never do.