OH my GOD as Jimmie use to say as i revealed to him one of their schemes: we have entered the theater of the absurd.
President Trump has issued new guidance to label teachers as “critical infrastructure workers,” which could pave the way for them to return to the classroom this school year. His announcement comes as the latest step in the Trump administration’s push to reopen schools, which they hope will enable students to receive a quality education and allow parents to return to work.
“We believe that we can safely reopen our schools. We know that it’s best for our kids. We don’t want them to fall behind academically, but also we don’t want our kids to miss out on the counseling that they receive. Special needs services, as well as all the nutrition programs that are available just at our schools. Finally, Mr. President, I know that you’ve recognized from early on that getting our kids back to school is first a priority for them, but also it’s important for working families.” – Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States
Keeping exposed teachers in schools raises the risks that they could spread the infection to students and coworkers while showing no symptoms. Studies so far have suggested that infected people may be most infectious around the time they first develop symptoms. Researches have repeatedly found that levels of viral material in the upper respiratory tract are at their highest right around the time when people first notice symptoms. Additionally, some infected people do not develop symptoms but can still harbor similar levels of the virus as symptomatic people, according to several studies. The possibility of exposed teachers staying in classrooms is already alarming teachers’ associations and school administrators. Their concern is likely heightened by a rash of recent reports of schools and colleges that reopened amid the pandemic, only to abruptly close after quickly finding clusters of cases and widespread exposures.
The guidance document at the center of the issue is one published by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, and titled “Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community and National Resilience in COVID-19 Response.” According to the CISA, the guidance aims to “help officials and organizations identify essential work functions in order to allow them access to their workplaces during times of community restrictions.” The guidance was originally issued March 19 and in past versions has identified essential workers in sectors including healthcare, law enforcement, food and agriculture, energy, transportation, water and wastewater, public works, and communication and information technology.
But the fourth and latest version of the guidance, issued August 18, now includes workers in the education sector, including teachers and professors, school administrators and staff, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and school safety personnel.
Under separate guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such “critical infrastructure workers may be permitted to continue work following potential exposure to COVID-19, provided they remain asymptomatic and additional precautions are implemented to protect them and the community.” This, according to the guidance, is to “ensure continuity of operations of essential function.” In a statement to the AP, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten rebuked the federal guidances, saying, “If the president really saw us as essential, he’d act like it.” “Teachers are and always have been essential workers—but not essential enough, it seems, for the Trump administration to commit the resources necessary to keep them safe in the classroom.”
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced Monday it is canceling in-person undergraduate classes after a coronavirus outbreak quickly spread across campus.
Mamas don’t let your children go to school….. Home school them instead. You will protect them and your family and it is your real JOB!