Waddya know, those goshdarn kids can carry the virus after all. Personally, I'm not sure why that was a secret to anyone. It certainly wasn't a secret to my students, many of whom wore masks and compulsively used hand sanitizer.
“But one takeaway from this is that we can’t assume that just because kids aren’t getting sick, or very sick, that they don’t have the virus.”
So no matter how many temperature tests you give, no matter how many asymptomatic students you have in your classroom, you really won't know who is and is not carrying the virus. But on the brighter side, you have this:
That measurement does not necessarily prove children are passing the virus to others. Still, the findings should influence the debate over reopening schools, several experts said.
So maybe they aren't contagious, and maybe you won't get sick, and maybe you won't pass it on to your more vulnerable family members. That's heartwarming, isn't it? Why don't I drink a bottle of scotch and get in the car for a drive. Maybe I won't kill anyone.
I guess that's why it's easy for Times reporters to stereotype us as unwilling to work under any circumstance. One of the great things about stories like that is the NY Post Editorial Board can simply reword them and hit us again. Sometimes you read about loony stories appearing somewhere, getting picked up by Fox, and then hitting more mainstream media. This time, it starts in the Times. Go figure. Let's support the kids and let the grownups all drop dead. Who really needs parents or grandparents anyway?
Here's another story Times reporters haven't read, in Politico. Evidently, school openings have not been working as a rule. It appears that where they did, it entailed a whole lot more planning and preparation than we've seen in the United States. In New York City, as the mayor and chancellor trip all over themselves producing increasingly desperate last-minute attempts to look less like bozos, it's extremely hard to trust their attempts at opening buildings.
Now here's something that's worth paying attention to:
Teacher unions have typically been involved in planning school reopenings in Europe, which is critical, since teachers are the most viable enforcers of new safety rules. “There's a great deal of trust in authorities because we know that we can always sit down and talk about things,” Dorte Lange of the Danish Union of Teachers said.
That's a novel thought. Instead of demonizing teachers for wanting to protect their lives, maybe we could, you know, work with them. Maybe teachers are a positive influence on students. Maybe teachers, by showing concern for their own lives, are modeling something worthwhile. My little dog jumps when he hears loud noises. He doesn't want to get hurt. I don't want him to get hurt, and I don't want children to get hurt either.
Hey, if NY Times reporters and Post editorial writers feel differently, that's on them. Maybe they'd be comfortable pushing their own children out of airplanes without parachutes. Of course, that would put them on par with dangerous criminals.
Make no mistake--that's exactly what they are.
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