Showing posts with label face masks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label face masks. Show all posts

Friday, July 17, 2020

Day 122 (or month 4, if you prefer) and Back To School (?)


The current hot-button issue is whether schools, which have been closed since March with kids at home all day and only virtual classes going, should re-open in the fall with some hybrid of x days in class and y days at home online. Of course the *president and many Republican governors are stumping for full-time in school. Most Democrat governors, teachers, scientists, universities, doctors and many parents are advocating for all online classes. Another portion of people want a hybrid model.
First let me say, I did not write this. It was posted on my local Next Door and seems to have come originally from a FB post. Second, I have cut some of the information that was specific to the original writer’s school district. The original writer has daughters in 8th and 10th grades.


 If you’re a parent concerned about [school in] the fall being virtual, I suggest you read this. 
 Like all of you, I’ve seen my feed become a flood of anxiety and faux expertise. You’ll get no presumption of expertise here. This is how I am looking at and considering this issue and the positions people have taken in my feed … The lead comments in quotes are taken directly from my feed. ... Sometimes I try to rationalize them. Sometimes I’m just punching back at the void. … As I consider the positions and arguments I see in my feed, these are where my mind goes. Of note, when I started working on this piece at 12:19 PM today the COVID death tally in the United States stood at 133,420.

“My kids want to go back to school.” I challenge that position. I believe what the kids desire is more abstract. I believe what they want is a return to normalcy. They want their idea of yesterday. And yesterday isn’t on the menu.

“I want my child in school so they can socialize.” This was the principle reason for our 2 days decision. As I think more on it though, what do we think ‘social’ will look like? There aren’t going to be any lunch table groups, any lockers, any recess games, any study halls, any sitting next to friends, any talking to people in the hallway, any dances. All of that is off the menu. So, when we say that we want the kids to benefit from the social experience, what are we deluding ourselves into thinking in-building socialization will actually look like in the fall?

“My kid is going to be left behind.” Left behind who? The entire country is grappling with the same issue, leaving all children in the same quagmire. Who exactly would they be behind? I believe the rhetorical answer to that is “They’ll be behind where they should be,” to which I’ll counter that “where they should be” is a fictional goal post that we as a society have taken as gospel because it maps to standardized tests which are used to grade schools and counties as they chase funding.

“Classrooms are safe.” At the current distancing guidelines from [our] middle and high schools would have no more than 12 people (teachers + students) in a classroom… For the purpose of this discussion we’ll say classes run 45 minutes. I posed the following question to 40 people today, representing professional and management roles in corporations, government agencies, and military commands: “Would your company or command have a 12 person, 45 minute meeting in a conference room?” 100% of them said no, they would not. These are some of their answers:
“No. Until further notice we are on Zoom.”
“(Our company) doesn’t allow us in (company space).”
“Oh hell no.”
“No absolutely not.”
“Is there a percentage lower than zero?”
“Something of that size would be virtual.”
We do not even consider putting our office employees into the same situation we are contemplating putting our children into. And let’s drive this point home: there are instances here when commanding officers will not put soldiers, ACTUAL SOLDIERS, into the kind of indoor environment we’re contemplating for our children. For me this is as close to a ‘kill shot’ argument as there is in this entire debate. How do we work from home because buildings with recycled air are not safe, because we don’t trust other people to not spread the virus, and then with the same breath send our children into buildings?

“Children only die .0016 of the time.” First, conceding we’re an increasingly morally bankrupt society, but when did we start talking about children’s lives, or anyone’s lives, like this? This how the villain in movies talks about mortality, usually 10-15 minutes before the good guy kills him. If you’re in this camp, and I acknowledge that many, many people are, I’m asking you to consider that number from a slightly different angle. [Our district] has 189,000 children. .0016 of that is 302. 302 dead children are the Calvary Hill you’re erecting your argument on. So, let’s agree to do this: stop presenting this as a data point. If this is your argument, I challenge you to have courage equal to your conviction. Go ahead, plant a flag on the internet and say, “Only 302 children will die.” No one will. That’s the kind [of] action on social media that gets you fired from your job. And I trust our social media enclave isn’t so careless and irresponsible with life that it would even, for even a millisecond, enter any of your minds to make such an argument.
Considered another way: You’re presented with a bag with 189,000 $1 bills. You’re told that in the bag are 302 random bills, they look and feel just like all the others, but each one of those bills will kill you. Do you take the money out of the bag? Same argument, applied to the 12,487 teachers in [our district] using the ‘children’s multiplier’ of .0016 (all of us understanding the adult mortality rate is higher). That’s 20 teachers. That’s the number you’re talking about. It’s very easy to sit behind a keyboard and diminish and dismiss the risk you’re advocating other people assume. Take a breath and think about that. If you want to advocate for 2 days a week, look, I’m looking for someone to convince me. But please, for the love of God, drop things like this from your argument. Because the people I know who’ve said things like this, I know they’re better people than this. They’re good people under incredible stress who let things slip out as their frustration boils over. So, please do the right thing and move on from this, because one potential outcome is that one day, you’re going to have to stand in front of St. Peter and answer for this, and that’s not going to be conversation you enjoy.

“Hardly any kids get COVID.” (Deep sigh) Yes, that is statistically true as of this writing. But it is a cherry-picked argument because you’re leaving out an important piece. One can reasonably argue that, due to the school closures in March, children have had the least EXPOSURE to COVID. In other words, closing schools was the one pandemic mitigation action we took that worked. There can be no discussion of the rate of diagnosis within children without also acknowledging they were among our fastest and most quarantined people. Put another way, you cannot cite the effect without acknowledging the cause.

“The flu kills more people every year.” (Deep sigh). First of all, no, it doesn’t. Per the CDC, United States flu deaths average 20,000 annually. COVID, when I start writing here today, has killed 133,420 in six months. And when you mention the flu, do you mean the disease that, if you’re suspected of having it, everyone, literally everyone in the country tells you stay the f- away from other people? You mean the one where parents are pretty sure their kids have it but send them to school anyway because they have a meeting that day, the one that every year causes massive f-ing outbreaks in schools because schools are Petri dishes and it causes kids to miss weeks of school and leaves them out of sports and band for a month? That one? Because you’re right - the flu kills people every year. It does, but you’re ignoring the why. It’s because there are people who are a--holes who don’t care about infecting other people. In that regard it’s a perfect comparison to COVID.

“Almost everyone recovers.” You’re confusing “release from the hospital” and “no longer infected” with “recovered.” I’m fortunate to only know two people who have had COVID; one my age and one my dad’s age. The one my age described it as “absolute hell” and although no longer infected cannot breathe right. The one my dad’s age was in the hospital for 13 weeks, had to have a trach ring put in because she could no longer be on a ventilator, and upon finally getting home and being faced with incalculable time in rehab told my mother, “I wish I had died.” While I’m making every effort to reach objectivity, on this particular point, you don’t know what the f- you’re talking about.

If people get sick, they get sick.” First, you mistyped. What you intended to say was “If OTHER people get sick, they get sick.” And shame on you.

“I’m not going to live my life in fear.” You already live your life in fear. For your health, your family’s health, your job, your retirement, terrorists, extremists, one political party or the other being in power, the new neighbors, an unexpected home repair, the next sunrise. What you meant to say was, “I’m not prepared to add ANOTHER fear,” and I’ve got news for you: that ship has sailed. It’s too late. There are two kinds of people, and only two: those that admit they’re afraid, and those that are lying to themselves about it. As to the fear argument, fear is the reason you wait up when your kids stay out late, it’s the reason you tell your kids not to dive in the shallow water, to look both ways before crossing the road. Fear is the respect for the wide world that we teach our children. Except in this instance, for reasons no one has been able to explain to me yet.

“[Our district] leadership sucks.” I will summarize my view of the School Board thusly: if the 12 of you aren’t getting into a room together because it represents a risk, don’t tell me it’s OK for our kids. I understand your arguments, that we need the 2 days option for parents who can’t work from home, kids who don’t have internet or computer access, kids who need meals from the school system, kids who need extra support to learn, and most tragically for kids who are at greater risk of abuse by being home. All very serious, all very real issues, all heartbreaking. No argument. But you must first lead by example. Because you’re failing when it comes to optics. All your meetings are online. What our children see is all of you on a Zoom telling them it’s OK for them to be exactly where you aren’t. I understand you’re not PR people, but you really should think about hiring some.

“I talked it over with my kids.” Let’s put aside for a moment the concept of adults effectively deferring this decision to children, the same children who will continue to stuff things into a full trash can rather than change it out. Yes, those hygienic children. Listen, my 15 year old daughter wants a sport car, which she’s not getting next year because it would be dangerous to her and to others. Those kinds of decisions are our job. We step in and decide as parents, we don’t let them expose themselves to risks because their still developing and screen addicted brains narrow their understanding of cause and effect. We as parents and adults serve to make difficult decisions. Sometimes those are in the form of lessons, where we try to steer kids towards the right answer and are willing to let them make a mistake in the hopes of teaching better decision making the next time around. This is not one of those moments. The stakes are too high for that. This is a “the adults are talking” moment. Kids are not mature enough for this moment. That is not an attack on your child. It is a broad statement about all children. It is true of your children and it was true when we were children. We need to be doing that thinking here, and “Johnny wants to see Bobby at school” cannot be the prevailing element in the equation.

“The teachers need to do their job.” How is it that the same society which abruptly shifted to virtual students only three months ago, and offered glowing endorsements of teachers stating, “we finally understand how difficult your job is,” has now shifted to “screw you, do your job.” There are myriad problems with that position but for the purposes of this piece let’s simply go with, “You’re not looking for a teacher, you’re looking for the babysitter you feel your property tax payment entitles you to.”

“Teachers have a greater chance to being killed by a car than they do of dying from COVID.” (Eye roll) Per the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the U.S. has approximately 36,000 auto fatalities a year. Again, there have been 133,420 COVID deaths in the United States through 12:09 July 10, 2020. So no, they do not have a greater chance of being killed in a car accident. And, if you want to take the actual environment into consideration, the odds of a teacher being killed in a car accident in their classroom, you know, the environment we’re actually talking about, that’s right around 0%.

“If the grocery store workers can be onsite what are the teachers afraid of?” (Deep breath) A grocery store worker, who absolutely risks exposure, has either six feet of space or a Plexiglas shield between them and individual adult customers who can grasp their own mortality whose transactions can be completed in moments, in a 40,000 SF space. A teacher is with 11 ‘customers’ who have not an inkling what mortality is, for 45 minutes, in a 675 SF space, six times a day. Just stop.

“Teachers are choosing remote because they don’t want to work.” (Deep breaths) Many teachers are opting to be remote. That is not a vacation. They’re requesting to do their job at a safer site. Just like many, many people who work in buildings with recycled air have done. And likely the building you’re not going into has a newer and better serviced air system than our schools. Of greater interest to me is the number of teachers choosing the 100% virtual option for their [own] children. The people who spend the most time in the buildings are the same ones electing not to send their children into those buildings. That’s something I pay attention to.

“I wasn’t prepared to be a parent 24/7” and “I just need a break.” I truly, deeply respect that honesty. Truth be told, both arguments have crossed my mind. Pre-COVID, I routinely worked from home 1 – 2 days a week. The solace was nice. When I was in the office, I had an actual office, a room with a door I could close, where I could focus. During the quarantine that hasn’t always been the case. I’ve been frustrated, I’ve been short, I’ve gone to just take a drive and get the hell away for a moment and been disgusted when one of the kids sees me and asks me to come for a ride, robbing me of those minutes of silence. You want to hear silence. I get it. I really, really do. Here’s another version of that, admittedly extreme. What if one of our kids becomes one of the 302? What’s that silence going to sound like? What if you have one of those matted frames where you add the kid’s school picture every year? What if you don’t get to finish the pictures?

“What does your gut tell you to do?” Shawn and I have talked ad infinitum about all of these and other points. Two days ago, at mid-discussion I said, “Stop, right now, gut answer, what is it,” and we both said, “virtual.” A lot of the arguments I hear people making for the 2 days sound like we’re trying to talk ourselves into ignoring our instincts, they are almost exclusively, “We’re doing 2 days, but…”. There’s a fantastic book by Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear, which I’ll minimize for you thusly: your gut instinct is a hardwired part of your brain and you should listen to it. In the introduction he talks about elevators, and how, of all living things, humans are the only ones that would voluntarily get into a soundproof steel box with a potential predator just so they could skip a flight of stairs. I keep thinking that the 2 days option is the soundproof steel box. I welcome, damn, beg, anyone to convince me otherwise.

At the time I started writing at 12:09 PM, 133,420 Americans had died from COVID. Upon completing this draft at 7:04 PM, that number rose to 133,940. 520 Americans died of COVID while I was working on this. In seven hours. The length of a school day.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Day 65 and the 'new normal'

What parts of our 'normal' today will we carry through into ... forever ... whenever?

I envision having a wardrobe of masks. Maybe a fancy one for going out to shows or dinner. Something fun for when I get together with friends and family. The ones that have been washed a lot and are a bit tatty might do for going to the gas station but not for the grocery store where I might run into someone I know. But, masks are probably part of my life for at least the next couple of years.

What about the weekly neighborhood cocktail parties, 2-3 couples only, spaced 6 feet apart? When everyone gets back to work, school, everyday life, will those continue? Will everyone get back to work, school, everyday life?  Or maybe once a month get togethers with a few neighbors, just to stay connected? Electronic communication will probably lean more toward Zoom, Room, Face Time and less toward plain vanilla phone calls.

What will "work" look like? Twitter has announced that their employees can all work from home ... forever. As other companies realize that employees can be just as productive working from home, will that become the new normal?

And as people realize they don't have to be geographically close to where they work, will there be a gradual (or not so gradual) exodus from urban centers to more pleasant places? Will we choose where to live by the climate, or geographical attractions, or closer to friends or family? This is where intentional communities can thrive -- you can live where you and your tribe choose, not where your employer happens to be.

Some retail workers will still need to go to a workplace, but already grocery stores are pivoting to self-checkout. Mail and packages will still need to be delivered, but drones and robots are starting to take that over. Manufacturing has already been invaded by the robots.

Restaurants and bars cannot be digitized or "remoted" but when will people feel safe again to congregate?

Will most sports spectators still want to watch in person? Or will TV be good enough? How about "live" theater? There is something to be said for experiencing those up close and personal.

How will school change? Will El-Hi school become more fragmented? English and History classes online; Math and Science classes in a lab; fewer students in each class? How will young children be socialized? Will there still be day-care and pre-school?

Note to self: revisit this on 5/20/2025

Friday, May 15, 2020

Day 60 and face masks

Sewing, especially quilting, is my hobby, my "happy time", my diversion and never more so than during this pandemic quarantine.

When I sew a baby bib or a quilt, I think about the intended recipient while designing the pattern, while pulling the fabric, while cutting and sewing and layering and basting and quilting and binding. It is a meditative and contemplative process wherein I pour my love, happy thoughts and good wishes.

When wearing face masks was mandated for seniors, later for all people in public places, I made one for myself. I did that so I wouldn't be dipping into the limited stock available for front line workers. Then, I made two more which I later gave to my gardener and his wife. Recently, a family member requested several for a special event and I am in the process of finishing those.

 I still try to think about the recipients who are friends and family members but it is difficult and the process becomes more of a chore than the act of love it should be. Love, happy thoughts and good wishes seem to be pushed aside when I sew face masks, to be replaced by rage.

Rage. Not sadness. Rage at the stupidity, cruelty and utter malice of our national government's handling of this pandemic crisis. That home sewists are being asked to do this, like we are still a pre-industrialized nation. That the US in the 21st century is not leading the effort to contain and cure this disease, but is asking citizens to die for an economic bailout that will only benefit some large corporations. That many of our national leaders are politicizing this situation for their own benefit; and that they are enabling a large portion of our citizens to selfishly endanger their neighbors for THEIR own political purposes.

At a time when we have the opportunity to band together against a common enemy, many of our government's leaders are taking the politically expedient low road.

So, if you are a friend or family member and ask me to make you a mask, I will. I will search through my fabrics and pick something pretty and appropriate, just for you. I will work very hard to imbue my work with love, happy thoughts and good wishes for you.

But if you ask me to make 50, or 100, or 500, I will respectfully decline.  For my own well being, for my own mental health, I must limit the rage as much as possible; whether this means refusing to watch the political rallies disguised as presidential press briefings, or ruminating on stupidity, cruelty and malice.

I hope you understand.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Day 53 and America'a short attention span

People are getting a bit antsy about sheltering-in-place. Some states (mostly  with Republican governors) are starting to rescind their SIP orders and allowing all sorts of businesses to open, some with token "social distancing" rules and use of face masks and many not.

Nail salons and hair dressers and tattoo parlors are some of the businesses Florida and Georgia can't do without. Texas is letting restaurants open at 25% capacity so that patrons are spread out from each other and "encouraging but not requiring" patrons and staff to wear masks.

One Texas restaurant chain, which owns a restaurant in the next town over from me, has forbidden its employees from wearing face masks at work because  "face masks don't complement the restaurant group's style or level of hospitality." On the restaurant group's website, they say, "If you are concerned about your well being with respect to masks not being worn by staff or by other guests, we hope you will join us at a later date." Or, translated, "We are here to make as much money as we can and to exploit our workers and we really don't give a damn about our customers."

All of the health professionals say that wearing a face mask may not protect YOU, but it definitely will protect others FROM you if you happen to be an asymptomatic carrier -- and without universal testing, you have no way to know if you are or not. It only makes sense to try to protect other people.

The problem is, the president doesn't want to wear a mask because he is afraid he will look silly, or weak, or somehow not masculine. So he is encouraging his cult of followers to ignore the restrictions and get back to business as usual. He is so convinced that he will lose the next election in November unless the economy recovers that he is willing to sacrifice thousands of citizens to this pandemic.

He is encouraging armed terrorists to storm their state Capitol buildings to intimidate the mostly Democrat governors into relaxing the preventative restrictions.




"face masks don't complement the restaurant group's style or level of hospitality."




My Chickens' First Night

 Sunset  was at 8:11 pm so I went out to the pen a little after 8. The three chickens were milling around, scratching and peeping and seemin...