i didnt hesitate when i was asked this question
my answer was no
when the schools closed in march when i was sick i told my wife she they wont reopen this year
a friend who teaches in texas is nearing retirement
they are probably 3 years away
they asked me
should i go back to school and teach this year since our district is requiring all teachers to show up for in class classes
my answer if it was me i would not
if it was my wife she she would not return to school to teach during the pandemic
death from covid 19 is final
my wife she would have been in a high risk category
this teacher is bordering high risk
lucky for that teacher their district just changed their minds and decided to allow virtual classes for the first few weeks then they may require the teachers to start in school classes
i told the teacher you have 3 choices
go to work
retire
retire and find another job
of course a lot of socioeconomics goes into that decision
for my wife she if she was still teaching
she could retire and get her retirement
we dont use their health insurance anyway
we use her meager social security check thats reduced thanks to that bad windfall elimination to just enough to pay for her medicare and her medicare supplement and her medicare part d insurance
we did manage to save enough in her 401k to compensate for this lost of social security the loss of some retirement pension by retiring early and by the fact there is no cost of living adjustment on the pension
so for us the decision would be easy but the socioeconomic conditions arent as good for most teachers
but
my answer is still no
kids represent 2% of the covid 19 cases
put them all in a petri dish called the schools and that number may climb
it will spread to the teachers and other school employees many that are high risk
it will spread back into the homes to the parents grandparents and at risk folks living in the kids homes
you will see outbreaks like we are seeing after the holidays of memorial and july 4th
there are people that will die from opening the schools
at what price are those lives worth
so
they asked me again
would you go back to school to teach
no
if you did they asked what would you do to protect yourself
wear a n95 mask 24/7 while at school
consider a shield
consider wearing gloves but understand how to remove them safely and realize that if you wear them wrong that make things worse
sanitize your hands a lot
try to wear ppe protection
use lots of digital devices to teach with
i try to visualize what a day would be like in the life of a teacher
i can not imagine how nervous i would be in that situation
especially
if you keep up with how the covid 19 spreads via droplets and now aerosols and via hands
definitely no for me
i asked my wife she what she would do
definitely no
our socioeconomic situation would have allowed her to say no
i asked
what would we do like when you really had to work like when i was a resident in training
we had two young kids in day care
we needed her income to make it
i was thinking how much of her work could be done remotely back then
back then probably zero
we looked at each other
we both said
im not sure what we would have done back then
thats the dilemma families are facing now
the schools provide so much now for kids and their families
yes i realize that there are social reasons the kids should go back to school
but
im afraid when the pandemic as it is now and will only get worse over the next month then will surely rise itself again this winter when the second wave hits
the schools just will not be open at all
other countries have been able to safely do this
we in the us dont seem to be able to do what needs to be done to allow that to happen
i just dont see how the schools can safely open here in the united states
mr hudson update
he developed a fever sunday night
they did cultures and chest xrays that so far are negative
his white count which was low has returned back up
his kidney functions are normal
his urine output is normal
yesterday he seemed to feel better
if he continues to recover ok and his cultures are negative he will be discharged a day later than expected ie on wednesday not tuesday
we facetimed him and got him to smile at us as he played with his new toy truck
the organicgreen doctor
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