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Comment by bryan0 | Hacker News Reader

> At this point in the pandemic we've should have come up with models that factor in the externalities of lockdown and factor that into policy decisions. That somehow still hasn't happened.

What makes you think it hasn’t? I’m sure all lockdown decision makers are looking at these models along with models of hospital capacity.

> People say "things are pretty much back to normal" but parents with kids in school know this is not true.

My kids school life has basically gone back to normal and has been all year. It’s my WFH situation that is never “going back to normal” but I think that’s a positive.

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My kids wear masks to school too. My oldest is probably not as heavily impacted by this but I feel like my younger child has been (started K in 2019). He doesn't really know what his friends look like, he doesn't get to see facial expressions of his teachers or peers as part of their emotions, he doesn't get to see the teacher enunciate words with their mouth, he's spent a lot of time learning virtually at a young age, he gets to hide his own reactions behind a mask. He's soft spoken and his participation in class is probably suppressed a little further and dampening him being challenged or as confident. Compared to my older child, there's less enriching extracurricular activities available for the last two years as well, clubs and PTA events and sports have all been impacted.

I have no way of quantifying any of this but there's just tons of little things that have the potential to be negative impacts to his long term success. Even if my kids cope, I worry about their peers and the worrying trends in academic test data compared to previous cohorts.

These are good points. I especially relate with the lack of extra curricular activities. I would just say that I think these effects are negligible compared to keeping kids at home with virtual learning.

> Basically gone back to normal

Do they have to wear masks? Do they have to socially distance?

They wear masks. They do not social distance.

My kids school, in LA, still has no in-person events, no parents on campus, kids must stay 3 feet from each other, masks indoors and outdoors, weekly covid testing, regular class room shut downs for exposure after which there is zoom schooling and daily testing, no wind instruments, no field trips, no food sharing, all parent teacher meetings over zoom, etc etc etc. It's as bad a lockdown as at the peak.

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