Letter: Put people first before reopening schools

Graphic by Lori Deaton

Please listen to health experts, parents and teachers before opening our schools. This is a health issue, not political. Take some time to contemplate these questions and contact our representatives, urging them to put people first:

1. How does this stress affect the health and well-being of our children, parents and teachers?
2. How does it affect the ability to teach and to learn?
3. What are the long-term effects of consistently being stressed out?
4. How will it affect students and faculty when the first parent, student or teacher tests positive for COVID-19? Or worse, dies from this?

We have not and we are not spending anywhere near the right amount to protect our citizens. And, in turn, we are putting our children in danger. Yes, the problem is daunting, and there really is no perfect solution, but to politicize the health of the American people reveals the necessity for we the people to speak out to our decision-makers: Call or write our representatives, write letters to the editor. And support those who are courageous enough to take the streets to voice their opinion.

I believe the readers of this are mostly like myself who can’t afford to flood the media with advertisements to voice our opinions. But don’t just sit there, do something. Save lives and our democracy.

— Ed Sacco
Asheville

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6 thoughts on “Letter: Put people first before reopening schools

  1. dub

    Ed, if we’re going to coerce people into going back to work, we have to open up the warehouses for people to dump their kids off for 8 hours a day. I think it’s pretty clear that the government isn’t going to do anything about the virus, and it’s just going to become a normalized part of American society. Good luck writing your elected representative, I can assure you they care more about what their wealthy donors have to say than any of their constituents. I think they best think we can is start burning sh*t tbh.

  2. G Man

    1. If you listen to ALL of the “experts” (not just those who are willing to support your narrative) you may conclude that the lockdowns don’t work to “stop the spread of the virus”.

    2. If you listen to ALL of the “experts” you may conclude that children are extremely unlikely to suffer any consequences even on the rare occasions that they do contract the virus. It has also been debunked that they are “superspreaders”.

    3. If you listen to ALL of the “experts” you may conclude that keeping kids out of school, without those school meals, without any watchful eyes, without any social interactions, without the discipline of a schedule, and with possibly stressed parents and family members actually does much more harm to our children that this virus ever will. In fact, the kids are probably more likely to be stricken with influenza (oh yeah, have we eradicated that one yet?) or involved in a car wreck.

    4. If the teachers want to stay home, then they should be defunded. Teacher’s unions have no business making claims of “safety” of teachers and students while making DEMANDS about political issues far outside the realm of their expertise.

    Sorry Ed, the sky really isn’t falling and opening our schools does not equate to destroying our democracy as you imply. School is a normal thing. The one’s making it political are those who want everyone to stay at home with their heads in the sand waiting for a sterile utopia to arise out of the DNC.

    • luther blissett

      You need better sources of information than Fox News and randos on Facebook.

      1. Actual lockdowns work, as opposed to the sorta-kinda-lockdowns that happened in the US and were relaxed once a bunch of political leaders got bored.
      2. Even in places where there was greater control over the spread, there’s broad consensus that resuming in-person classes for younger grades while keeping older kids away is the best compromise. Try to bring older grades back (Israel) and you end up shutting down again.
      3. In case you hadn’t noticed, children don’t live by themselves.
      4. You should read the reporting on what happened at the YMCA camp in Rabun County in June.
      5. What’s going to happen is entirely predictable: there will be outbreaks within a few weeks of schools reopening; the “nice white parents” who have the most flexibility at work will demand closures; we’re back where we started.

      The immense public sacrifice around the initial lockdown has been squandered. The smartest policy right now would be another hard national lockdown starting right now with an aim to have the infrastructure in place by the start of October that we should have had in June. Of course, that’s not going to happen. If you’re getting angry at teachers, you’ve either been duped or you’re complicit. Do you really believe that teachers aren’t used to students bringing a summer’s worth of germs back into the classroom when the school year begins?

      • G Man

        You need better sources of information than your own assumptions. I’ve never been on Facebook, ever, and I watch Fox News as a supplement to various other sources, mostly because they tend to cover things totally ignored by the rest of the media. I find it more advantageous to read and hear multiple takes on stories and make my own judgments about the facts vs the opinions. Most people don’t seem to be able to tell the difference these days, especially most of today’s so-called journalists.

        You need to define “work”. The whole reason for the initial lockdowns was to “flatten the curve” so as not to overwhelm our health care system. The basis for that strategy was a bunch of unknowns about the virus, but it was never assumed that we would “stop” it, just drag it out long enough to avoid that high peak of demand for hospital space and ventilators. So, in that sense, I would agree that the initial lockdown “worked”.

        Fast forward to today. Now we know much more about how the virus actually spreads, who is at the most risk, and that the virus is 20 fold less deadly than we feared it might be. We have also learned via testing that lots of people seem to have natural immunity and that lots of people have actually contracted the virus without ever knowing it or experiencing any symptoms. Now we are supposed to do lockdowns to “control the spread” of the virus? The more testing we do, the more we find that it has already spread farther than we imagined, but since it isn’t nearly as dangerous as we used to think then who really cares about the “spread”? Even where we are seeing the recent outbreaks (not related in any way to ‘peaceful protest’ gatherings of course) the only number accelerating is the ‘number of confirmed cases’. The hospitalizations and deaths are not climbing at the same rate. Do you know what happens when the numerator is steady and the denominator keeps getting bigger?

        What would we accomplish with a national lockdown? Do you (or anyone else for that matter) really think the virus will just go away? We still have coronaviruses that cause the “common cold” and coronaviruses that cause influenza. Why should we not expect that this novel coronavirus will stick around and spread seasonally just like the others do? Is this worth crushing our economy and our culture for? Interstingly, the total number of people who have died in the US this year is comparable to the same time last year. The only difference is that in 2020 somebody decided that every death in the country shall be attributed to COVID-19. Why? Because that’s worth more money to the care-givers. Maybe you should look into that.

        If we are so concerned with “every life” then what is the logical explanation for the FDA making unprecedented bans on time-tested medicine that has proven to be an effective treatment in many COVID-19 cases around the world? Why do our politicians see fit to intervene in the doctor-patient relationship to nobody’s benefit besides big pharma?

        If you want to poo-poo my arguments because you don’t like my sources, at least get the sources right.

        Your comment number 5 is nothing but pure racism.

        As for teachers, I don’t know who you think I’ve been duped by. Of course teachers are accustomed to germy environments. That is my point about this being nothing new. And yes, I do talk to teachers. I have a son and a daughter who are both teachers. My problem is the ‘demands’ that these teacher’s unions are making. A Los Angeles teachers’ union is actually demanding the defunding of police so they can take their budget. They also want to eliminate charter schools. https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/education/la-teachers-union-says-schools-cant-reopen-unless-charter-schools-get . A North Carolina teachers’ union is demanding mortgage suspension and universal health care. https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/education/nc-teachers-union-demands-complete-state-shutdown-suspended-mortgages
        How are those things in the purview of a teacher union?

        Locally, teachers are demanding ventilation system upgrades to schools. What does that even mean? Who is defining the level of mechanical performance? They also want $$$ spent on “extra sanitization” of the school buildings and furniture. Again, who defines the level of sanitation? The CDC still says it is unlikely that “spread by touching surfaces” is even a valid concern. The best they can say is that it is “possible” it could happen but they describe it as a “difficult” thing to do and nobody can cite a single case where it has happened. Come on people, follow the real science! What we knew or thought in March is not the same as it is today. Oh, apparently they also want government income support for illegal aliens. Basically, the teachers’ union’s idea of collective bargaining is to overthrow the US government and declare a Marxist state.

        I am thinking I am not the one being duped.

  3. luther blissett

    We can just look at Georgia after a couple of days of classes:

    https://www.cbs46.com/news/elementary-student-tests-positive-for-covid-19-in-cherokee-county/article_5c03b996-d69c-11ea-a750-f3d17f283144.html

    One second-grader tests positive, and the school protocol is to put the entire class on 14-day quarantine with the teacher (also in quarantine) doing remote teaching. How are working parents meant to plan around that? Change the protocol to “let ‘er rip?”

  4. Enlightened Enigma

    All responsible parents should use this opportunity to totally remove their children from these DREADFUL government screwls, evil indoctrination centers…

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