Teachers Are Panicking About Schools Reopening in the Fall | Hacker News Reader

Teachers Are Panicking About Schools Reopening in the Fall

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10 pointspmoriarty9 comments

Studies from Europe should allay fears about schools contributing to the spread of the virus: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/apa.15371 https://www.thelocal.no/20200511/opening-schools-has-not-rek...

If open schools is one of the main drivers of the epidemic, then teachers in Sweden, were elementary schools never closed, should be infected at a much higher rate than the rest of the population. That has not been the case, hence schools are likely not one of the main drivers of the epidemic.

Big caveat being that the Nordic countries have very generous sick leave rules. Parents get paid for staying home with sick children.

The kids will already have to deal with the consequences of climate change. Also robbing them of education and social development because we failed to properly isolate senior citizens if cruel and unjust.

The article cited by the OP (which I read) suggests that the 'studies from Europe'(which I read - it's apparently largely based on unpublished studies) are somehow different from those in Israel:

"what happened in Israel, where schools reopened on May 17. On that day, Israel added only 10 new cases. By the end of June, the country had added 1,400 cases—657 of which contract tracers tracked to schools."

I've been following Covid closely since it appeared, and if I was a teacher I would not even consider returning to school at this time. It looks like many, many college teachers agree.

So do you expect to be paid while you refuse to work?

Did OP suggest that they expect to be paid?

As essential and needful as the teaching profession is, a lot of people actually pay a financial penalty for the privilege. They, like everyone else, are free to choose a better-paying job. That's certainly a saner and safer course of action than the one being contemplated for them ... especially for those over 40.

Yes, but that doesn't mean the events are related. The countries that opened their schools in spring and has since not seen an increase in Covid-19 cases instructed people to remain vigilant. Israel's PM Netanyahu in May declared "victory" over the virus and told Israelis to go out "enjoy yourselves." Perhaps with a more cautious strategy Israel wouldn't have seen a second outbreak.

But even if they would have, what's the alternative? Let kids sit at home and wait for a vaccine?

The article starts by confusing cases with infections in a recently published study. The study says 8% of children who are infected get admitted to the ICU; the linked study says 8% of children studied were admitted to the ICU, all of whom were known cases. This potentially ignores a large number of children who were infected and not symptomatic enough to get tested.

This kind of confusion happens in newspapers and other coroprate media so often that one is left to wonder if it is intentional. After all, the fear porn sells.

We could have this disease under control by the time school starts by giving everyone (or at least everyone in highly affected areas) tests every day.

This is possible, practical, and affordable.

The technology for fast pregnancy-test style tests for COVID-19 exists right now, and they could cost as little as $1 per test.

The reason these tests aren't being used yet is because of the FDA's misguided requirements for extremely high sensitivity for COVID-19 tests. If these requirements could be relaxed to allow lower-sensitivity tests, then these tests could go out on the market... or, better yet, the government could take over and ensure everyone gets tested with these tests every day for $1 a test.

Even a more limited plan of testing just all schoolkids every day for $1 a test would be way better than what we've got now.

Details regarding these tests, the science behind them, and the plan outlined above can be found in the latest episode of This Week in Virology.[1]

Let's not miss another opportunity to stop this disease!

[1] - Starting at about 6'20" in to episode 640: https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-640/

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