This post could be placed a few different places but I decided to put it here.
I heard from my eldest daughter today after her 6 hour school zoom meeting and social/emotional pandemic training workshop.
As I have mentioned previously, she is going to (eventually) be in a brand new school building. Their principal told them last week he had to quarantine because his mom had Covid and he had been in contact with her. So for 2 weeks he has not been very available. That is a bunch to manage and process with a new school opening in just weeks.
Here is the rest of the story she learned today.
His father had gone into either a hospital or a treatment center for a cancer treatment and picked up Covid from there. His father passed away a short time later in mid July from Covid. His mom and his sister were also infected from his father. His sister passed away from Covid a week after her father. His mom is recovering. He stayed with his mom who lives in a different part of the state to help her and to not infect his wife and children back at his own home. He is not infected thankfully.
What an incredible burden to bear. He will be opening up this new school in about a month with the full knowledge of how devastating and dangerous this disease is and he will be at the mercy of the Governor and then the school district on whether or not an extension of their 3 week online education learning will be granted or if the school will be opening up to the community for in-person education.
When schools finally do open their doors, everyone will need a whole bunch of pandemic social/emotional therapy. Everyone will have their own form of PTSD.
Wait! Make that OPTSD. Ongoing Pandemic Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Oklahoma here. First my Son-in-Law in Tucson has recovered from Coovid 19. He was off work for a month. I went to the doctor yesterday to get a refill of BP pills, There were three in the waiting room wearing masks, A lady came in without one. I asked her if she wanted one as I had one in the car. No. When I finally went in, the assistant and another were not wearing masks. I mentioned the lady without the mask. She said oh, none of the people were really sick. If one cames in, the take precautions. Doctor comes in, and shakes my hand. He shakes it going out too. He wants to do lab work. I told him I had that six months earlier, and I didn't want to go to the hospital until after Covid 19, and this is what got me. He said "AFTER THE ELECTION" To me, he thinks the pandemic isn't real.
@lovendures it's all of Georgia!! Remember who our Governor is??? brown nosing Trumper man? I expect BIG rise in Covid-19 cases and a bad outcome for our people here.
Looks just like the halls in the middle school where I worked. We were all required to stand in the hallway during passing time to monitor the halls. So glad I am retired. Here in Virginia, most of the districts are having online classes for the first semester which ends the middle of November. Then they will re-evaluate.
@lenor, you live in VA? Me too. I haven't been tracking all of the districts, but in Northern Virginia they've had a measured and sane response.
Let's continue holding all of our educators, students and their families in the light. They need our prayers right now.
I live just outside Richmond in Chesterfield. The tricounty area of Richmond, Chesterfield, and Henrico are doing the online. I have a teacher friend who lives in Waynesboro (just past Charlottesville) and she went back to school today. They have 160 cases and 3 deaths. She still is VERY nervous.
@lenor, I'll have to check with my friend who lives in Strasburg. I know that a lot of people there refuse to wear masks, so I have no idea what their school system is like.
More news and research regarding kids and Covid-19 transmission. This article from the Guardian is worth a read for anyone thinking about teaching or sending kids to school:
Covid-19 may spread more easily in schools than thought, report warns
There is also the (warning: link goes to an article in German) emerging research from the Charite University Hospital in Berlin, Germany that comes to the conclusion that there is no discernible difference between children and adults when it comes to viral load (and therefore spreading the virus). This research is preliminary only and has not yet been peer reviewed. I can post more when it is published.