My answer when parents ask me about school reopening is that there are a few options for educating our kids in the time of covid, and every one of them is wrong. Problem is, for different kids, they are wrong for different reasons, and that makes it largely impossible to compare on a population level. There is no âone size fits allâ solution, and any of them that are applied across the board will leave a significant number of kids out in the cold. My only answer is to abandon the idea of one, unitary solution and allow for options.
What we are seeing here is a growing dichotomy, between kids whose parents have the time and abi.ity to work with them and engage them during the shut-down, who are at least on par or better, and those whose parents cannot, for social, economic or limitations of their own, reasons, who have fallen desperately behind. We see an alarming number of kids who cannot complete our kindergarten vision screening because they do not know names of shapes or letters. To the point that we are switching to a more high tech (and moe expensive, of course) version based on photographing their eyes.
I donât know where this goes, but watching the debate here, I have to take note of the fact that what is actually in the best interest of the kids is rarely given more than lip service. It is much more about not spending any more money than minimum and getting the kids out of the house so parents can go back to work. A whole generation at risk, but it comes down to âdonât raise my taxes, and get my low paid workers back.â Jesus wept.
the most underappreciated and poorly explained part of the cdc guidelines for opening schools is âadequate ventilationâ. in newer buildings that may be relatively easy with the existing hvac framework. older buildings that were initially meant to hold white students in segregated districts may also be relatively easy to upgrade but buildings that are either antiquated or built as âjim crowâ schools or both may be remarkably expensive to upgrade.
the remote learning options are definitely not for everyone. some students are unable to deal with the sudden freedom and independence from control which remote learning throws at them. i have spent this school year supporting every student taking remote asynchronous (that is self-paced online) math classes at my high school. at one point i was supporting 280 students.
within 9 weeks it became clear that some students were not going to do much of anything without closer supervision so the district made the decision that any student who was both making fewer than three logins per week and were failing their math class would have to select from either taking their courses in a remote synchronous approach (scheduled, daily zoom or microsoft teams class meetings + assignments uploaded to the teachers) or face to face classes. over the course of the first semester 150 of my initial students have gone into one of those two streams.
of the 130 or so students i am currently supporting about half of them or doing okay. regular logins, passing or better classes but definitely not flourishing. i have another 50 or so students who have thrived in this environment as if they were born to work self-paced. i have an additional 10 or 15 students who have never done better. of the latter group are students who were bully-magnets for whatever reason and they have always underperformed but now, freed from the burden of presence in the building are doing better than they have in years. several of these parents have been in contact with me, the counselors, and the principal pleading for the ability for their children to be able to continue to use remote asynchronous learning even after the worst problems of the pandemic are behind us.
for that last group, the online environment has been a true godsend. it has really opened the eyes of my principal to some issues that he had been somewhat aware of before but now he sees much more clearly and this has given him some objective data which may allow him more freedom of action going forward.
i, personally, am looking forward to being back in my actual classroom with students next year. for the sake of my health and the health of my students i am glad i got this assignment. because of health issues i was planning on retiring if i had not gotten this assignment. now that my health has improved and i have been vaccinated i feel comfortable with a return in the fall, especially since vaccinations are being thrown open to anyone 17+ who wants it and to 16 year olds whose parents approve it. i may only teach one more year after this one but i want a better âlast yearâ than thisâthe remote asynchronous guy who is helpful, supportive, patient, and seemingly always online.
The Butantan Institute admitted that the vaccine is actually from the USA. The technology was developed by the Mount Sinai Hospital and licensed to the brazilian Institution.
Maggie! Iâd forgotten that sheâd gone to 538.
Anna Rothschild: Thatâs a great analogy. Well, I think we should end it there. Maggie, thank you so much for chatting with me about this. Itâs always a pleasure to, you know, just gab and talk about major pharmaceutical companies and âŠ
Maggie Koerth: Girl stuff.
A little inside baseball: a relative was involved with the vector used by AstraZenica: he and his boss left Oxford for industry in part because they thought that the person currently in charge of the AstraZenica vaccine was an idiot who lacked even the vaguest grasp of the science.
(Never mind, worked it out. Iâm an idiot.)
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- Wonât be able to get a vaccine.
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- No idea when Iâll be able to get a vaccine.
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- Hope to schedule one in the near future.
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- First shot scheduled.
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- Had first of two shots.
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- Had first and only shot.
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- Had second shot.
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- Two weeks after my final shot, HOORAY!
0 voters
Follow-Up: Glasses wearers more likely to be injured in accidents caused by foggy glasses.
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While most people who contract COVID-19 will later test negative for the virus and recover weeks after infection, an undetermined percentage of people who also test negative continue to report symptoms for months on end. Testimonies from people in this group, known as COVID âlong-haulers,â who say they found relief after receiving the vaccine, have offered a new clue into the ongoing mystery of so-called âlong COVID.â
âThis is real, this is not imaginary. These are people whose symptoms are real,â Dr. Anthony Fauci said of long COVID at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. The director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said anywhere from 25% to 40% of individuals who test positive for COVID-19 âhave prolongation of symptoms that measure not only in weeks, but in months,â some of which, he added, âbecome completely incapacitating.â [âŠ]
Seriously! I end up taking my glasses off indoors, the fogging is so bad sometimes.
I had the same problem and a colleague of mine said that dish soup/detergent solves the problem.
After cleaning the glasses with water and a cloth, I just put the smallest possible drop of detergent and spread it on the lenses (both sides, because even the smallest drop is still too much).
If iâm not mistaken, it is a common technique used by swimmers.
During winter (in brazil), it would last a whole day.
This was the lead headline on the front page of CNN this morning
Try toothpaste. It works better and is easier to get clean after application.
Forecast update⊠given that weâre nearing the end of the forecast data I have.
Ontario 
has tracked the âLonger staggered re-opening with B.1.1.7â line quite well from Februaryâs forecast from U Waterloo and Guelph.
Five weeks into in-person schooling has our local school case rate at roughly the same level as before last yearâs school closures, about 1/3 of schools reporting cases, but now 6 Peel district schools are closed vs. 1 last time.
Be careful with that. Lots of toothpastes have mild abrasives. No prob with glass lenses, but who has those anymore? My plastic lenses get scratched by paper.
