Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Schools ?


Just one word to describe the situation with California schools . . . Chaos!

With the lockdown winding down in California, someone needs to come out with a unified plan first on the when, then on the how, and finally the why (“we are doing it this way because . . . and then state the scientific reasons). 

Like I said, instead of this we have “chaos!” But although it may sound as if I am ragging specifically on California, there are two words to describe the situation with schools in general across the U.S. and Covid-19 . . . Innuendo Rules!

On 5/21/20 there was an editorial titled “The Evidence on Kids and Covid.” (If you do not get the WSJ, this single editorial is worth the price of a six month subscription.)

First the general summary from this editorial and then the specifics:

In general, the summary is the last line of this piece . . . “nobody wants to endanger children. But the risks to children are not not enough to justify the continuing destruction of the lockdowns.”

Some facts, from this WSJ editorial:

  • “The CDC reported last week that 15 children under the age of 15 in the U.S. have died of Covid-19 since February compared to about 200 who have died of the flu and pneumonia. Children represent 0.02% of virus fatalities in the U.S., and very few have been hospitalized.”
  • During the last three weeks of March, 2020 only 48 children in the U.S. were admitted to 14 Pediatric I.C.U.s, and 83% had an underlying condition. (The I.C.U. mortality rates for children is only 5% compared to 50-62% for adults admitted to I.C.U. with Covid.)
  • A study from Spain found that younger children appear to be at lower risk of infection based on population antibody studies . . . only 3% between ages 5-9, 3.9% between ages 10-19, compared to a prevalence of 6% in those above 60 years. Why younger children appear to get this virus less, no one knows.

     -Unlike other respiratory viruses, children do not appear to be large  spreaders. A study from Australia studied “Covid-19 cases for six weeks at 25 schools. At the onset 18 individuals were infected. After 6 weeks only two of their 863 close contacts at the school had become infected.”
And most importantly . . . there were NO cases of the students passing the virus to teachers!

     -Children are >120 times more likely to die in accidents than from Covid-19.

So why are parents and those who are in charge of sending children back to school so hesitant to act?

Three things:

Mainstream media

Innuendo

Lack of the facts

If I were asked by Governor Newsom what should be done about schools (and I won’t be, even though I have nine grandchildren under sixteen), I would recommend the following:

Initially, probably for the first year, the parents would have the choice of whether to send their children back to schools or not. If they delay at first for whatever reason, that would be okay, but when a child were to finally start back, he/she would start at whatever grade level he/she was in as of 3/1/20.

Start all el-hi California students back to school on Monday, June 15th at the same grade level with the same teacher as before the lockdown. No spacing, no masks,no gloves, no change in class sizes or starting schedules. The hope would be that some herd immunity would be gotten at minimal cost in this very, very low risk group.

Continue at same grade level till August 14th, then break till Labor Day.

Start back after Labor Day at the next grade level with a new teacher. Go through Thanksgiving, and restart after the first of the year.

If any of you have an in with Gov. Newsom, please tell him that he can call me any time.

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