Posts by coastalorca43

Grace Edwards said:What's the point of even bringing up arguments when people are just riding a wave of pure emotion.

Spot on observation! Emotional blackmail is being used right there as an argument.

Susan James said:If everyone in a classroom stays on the same page about being against masks, you could look at the size of the room to see if maintaining a 1.5m distance is actually doable. Plus, having instructors who are either vaccinated or have already recovered would help a lot.

It’s definitely not impossible.
In theory, if everyone at home has already had it, the kid and the rest of the family are likely safe.
If the household is vaccinated, there's really no risk of the child bringing it home, and since kids mostly catch things from those they are in close contact with—basically their family—the chances of infection stay low.

Now, I'm not advocating for anyone to storm a school building for any reason, nor am I for a mountain of restrictive measures that basically contradict the goal of vaccination.
But if you have a classroom where more than half the parents are vaccinated, it might be worth trying to push back against the mask mandates.
Who knows, maybe there's even a class where every single parent is onboard.😲

In my opinion, high schoolers who are vaccinated or have recovered shouldn't need to wear masks.
The same goes for kids under 16, provided they've had it or their parents are vaccinated.
(And how would anyone even monitor that? They wouldn't. It really comes down to personal responsibility and being honest.)

We're all pretty exhausted by this whole circus, which ended up settling down in Denmark once people got vaccinated. Here in America, I actually think we don't even need such massive vaccination rates because so many people have already recovered—they just don't have the paperwork because they didn't get tested or used a faulty test (though, I suppose, they still want to use up the vaccine supply).

These are my favorite types: people who try to philosophize about the idiotic recommendations of incompetents, leading us to act like fools searching for loopholes in stupid rules. It's obvious these rules are just for show, and America basically entered that "Denmark phase" the moment we let tens of millions of tourists flood the country for the second time.
And then they start pulling variations out of these moronic guidelines, suggesting that only vaccinated or recovered kids should be exempt from masks, while leaving the mandate for the healthy kids—who, frankly, are responsible enough since they haven't caught the virus so far.
What, are we supposed to mark them at school so they become targets for COVID bullying?
The paranoia about a child bringing something home... 🤦Good grief.
But I'm not surprised coming from someone who is still debating whether it's 1.5m or 2m and measuring classroom dimensions after a year and a half of this intense COVID circus.

nimbleranger17 said:The Department of Education, working hand-in-hand with the CDC, is the one rolling out all these educational mandates. So, if anyone has an issue with how things are being handled, those are the institutions you should be looking at. Schools aren't making these calls on their own; they’re simply implementing decisions handed down from higher authorities, which they are legally obligated to follow.

These measures were just copied from last year and designed for a completely different era.
Fast forward a full year later—after over 3 million doses have been administered and 377,838 positive cases recorded—it seems the charlatans at the Department of Education and the CDC are utterly incapable of adapting their rules to today's vastly different reality.
They’re still chanting those same tired cliches about protecting "vulnerable groups" from kids carrying COVID-19.
In America, the only group truly being left vulnerable is our children. Their psychological and social development is being stunted, not to mention the serious health risks from bacterial infections and facial skin issues. And don't even get me started on the psychological toll of this whole masquerade.

Nancy Williams58 said:Pure stupidity, man... they don't need to do it in the classroom because there's plenty of space... yeah, right, because everyone knows air only stays within a meter or maybe a meter and a half of the person breathing, and that's it... air in a classroom just doesn't mix.

It's absolute garbage, and honestly, it goes for you people here trying to justify this too. You work with kids, you mold them from such a young age, you total idiots, all just to teach them one single thing—how to be obedient, even if what you're being told to do is completely brainless and makes zero sense.

Yeah, that's how we move into the future, isn't it? This is our children that we're going to "teach a life lesson"...

Let me say it again—this is just human incompetence, not actual epidemiology or professional science.

I couldn't agree more.
It’s Idiocracy in full effect.
Trying to come up with excuses for why I don't want my kid forced into wearing a mask is just as pointless as wearing one just for the sake of appearances.
Even Šimetinka basically admitted people wear masks just because they don't want to stand out and want to feel like part of the "team."
Honestly, this whole COVID situation has lost any connection to an actual public health threat in every aspect, except when they need to label anyone who speaks up against this nonsense and performative stupidity.
But then again, what else can you expect from people who rush to get vaccinated just to satisfy the requirements for a COVID pass?

bluerider63 said:Well, those parents clearly haven't realized that their kids have been drowning in stress from all these COVID-19 restrictions for ages now, which is exactly why we're seeing such a massive spike in kids heading to pediatric psychiatry.

It starts with a mask for two minutes today, and before you know it, tomorrow it's "just" this

Unfounded quarantines are happening right here in the States, too.
The epidemiologists aren't actually doing their jobs; they just send out notices without any dates or the child's name on them.

Amanda Hughes37 said:What is this massive crowd of idiots gathered in front of this school in Cleveland... just give the guy some tear gas and disperse them🤦

Is anything happening? Why, you idiot?

Michelle Nelson4 said:Six days, you say... well, that's just one way to measure how many infections we're seeing and the rate of school-based SI 😁
Last year, there was this specific window where by the time they finished waiting for testing slots and gave the epidemiologists enough time to actually process each classroom, the final SI decision would arrive on the very last day. 😂I mean, unless you think some little green alien is suddenly going to swoop in and write up all those reports. And more importantly, they'd have to sit down and interview every single kid individually to ask if they were hanging out with Peric or Maro that day. 🤣For our school alone, I doubt even 5 FTE epidemiologists could handle that workload this week...

That is hilarious. Truly. Personally, I don't find it funny at all. There could easily be legal repercussions here since sending a student into isolation without proper grounds obstructs their education and their entire future.
And their family's too.
I couldn't care less whether someone chooses to submit paperwork or not; the mere fact that the COVID-19 protocols aren't being followed tells me everything I need to know about how these harmful, sloppily drafted mandates shouldn't be binding in the first place.
I am officially done with this superficial obsession with checking boxes—it's been dragging on for three years now, and I've reached my limit.
There is plenty of work for the lawyers here.

Dear Parents,
We are writing to inform you that your child, a student at ........................ school, has been in contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19.
Due to this exposure, the child has been ordered to self-isolate until ??.9.2021.
Please let us know the address where your child will be spending their isolation period.
Kindly reach out to your primary care physician (family doctor or pediatrician), who will handle further monitoring and determine if testing is necessary.

-If your child develops symptoms consistent with COVID-19 during isolation, they must be tested (please contact your chosen doctor, who should provide a referral for testing). According to current CDC guidelines, individuals who do not develop symptoms consistent with COVID-19 during isolation do not need to be tested at the end of their isolation period, except for healthcare workers and staff in social care facilities.
If testing is not required, the child may return to attending classes at school starting ??.9.2021.

-An individual is not subject to health monitoring during quarantine/self-isolation if they:
• had a laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 (via PCR or antigen test) within the last nine months and met the criteria for ending isolation
• is an individual who had a laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 and received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine within eight months of recovery; in this case, the exemption from quarantine is extended to nine months from the date of vaccination (immunocompromised individuals and those over 65 must receive two doses regardless of prior infection).
• based on clear epidemiological history and clinical presentation, was classified as a probable case of COVID-19 (e.g., a household member living with a lab-confirmed patient who developed characteristic symptoms during quarantine) within the last nine months and met the criteria for ending isolation.
• received a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (or a single dose of the Janssen vaccine) within the last nine months, provided that 14 days have passed since the completion of the vaccination series (the second dose for all vaccines except Janssen, which is administered as a single dose).

-Should any of the above criteria apply, your child does not need to enter self-isolation, but please notify us accordingly.
-You may present this email to your medical provider; all data regarding the ordered isolation will also be available to the doctor via the electronic platform.
-Information regarding self-isolation can be found at the following link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/information-on-isolation/
-For additional questions, please contact: branka.puskaric-saic@cdc.gov

A generic bureaucratic template lacking the student's name and even the creation date, which Dr. Branka Puškarić-Saić from the CDC sends to parents with a six-day delay.
She is responsible for the 14-day isolation being prescribed in violation of standard protocols, as she clearly failed to account for individual students, specific contact circumstances, or her own professional standards for determining close contact.

"Spending time in an enclosed space (e.g., a classroom, meeting room, or waiting area in a healthcare
facility, etc.) with someone suffering from COVID-19 at a distance of less than two meters for a duration
longer than 15 minutes—staying in an enclosed space at a distance greater than two meters may
constitute close contact, depending on whether the sick individual shows symptoms, mask usage, and room ventilation
... every single instance of contact in an enclosed space must be assessed individually.""

The entire system is just bogged down in bureaucracy, obsessed with checking boxes rather than actually tackling the real health threats and plagues we should be preventing or fixing through decisive action where timing and consistency are everything.
To make a long story short.
They’re playing games with COVID-19. And they're doing it incredibly sloppily right in front of our eyes.

So, they're just calculating everything retroactively? It apparently only takes them four days to actually define anything.
In the meantime, the students are just left hanging.
Just yesterday—well, not me, but my kid's teacher informed us that the IEP lasts until September 22nd. Honestly, as a parent, I haven't even received an official notification yet. If my kid were trying to pull a fast one on me, I wouldn't even realize what was happening, considering we're already on day five.
According to the records, the IEP started on the 8th, yet I still haven't seen a single formal notice.

urbantinker8 said:I suppose I agree with you, though I should probably mention that there's no such thing as "school health officials."

It’s perfectly clear to me: there is simply an epidemiologist responsible for that specific school district.

placidnomad87 said:It feels like it’s always easiest to play the disciplinarian when dealing with kids. Even after all those various tests are conducted, they still go ahead and force an entire classroom into isolation just because of one single case of infection. Doesn't it seem to me that these epidemiologists, who appear to be driven more by political agendas than anything else, are exponentially spreading nothing but nonsense?

And they are—mostly through sheer laziness.
Instead of actually assessing the situation on the ground through real contact tracing, testing, and looking at the clinical symptoms of students to make informed decisions, they fight the pandemic with bureaucratic red tape like these COVID passes.

Susan James said:Well... what exactly haven't you recovered from yet?
Even if your immunity has technically worn off, there's still a chance it holds up. It seems silly to force people into isolation, and it also seems silly to insist on vaccination.

In places like Seattle, where they don't get much sun, immunity usually lasts about 12 months.
If schools were hit hard last fall, those kids should still have some lingering protection today.
Plus, it's not like you won't catch something if you have minimal exposure, but at least you have some resistance. 🤔
This whole idea of forced isolation, especially for kids, really needs to end.
If you're sick, stay home. If you're fine, get out there.

Anyone who was worried could have protected themselves with the vaccine. Look at Florida—it's a huge hotspot, but it's still packed with tourists. The only ones I see stuck in isolation are students.
(And even those poor students sitting in cafes right outside their school! Someone really needs to tell them to move a block or two down the street.)

They expect healthy children to endure ten days of total solitude.
Because "isolation" is supposed to mean being alone, but that's not how it works in reality. These students are just cut off from the world while still having constant contact with everyone else in their household. Someone actually thinks it's possible to maintain true isolation in a 600-square-foot apartment with multiple people living there.
But hey, as long as they follow the protocol. If they started testing all other gathering spots—shopping malls, retail chains, government offices, sports clubs, military bases, police stations—absolutely everything would be locked down if they applied the same laziness and flawed logic used by these school epidemiologists.

I'm reading through this now.
Not a single one of these criteria has actually been evaluated. What the epidemiologists are doing is a total mess—shoving students into homeschooling exactly 96 hours after some supposed contact without even checking if anyone shows symptoms is just pure incompetence.
They’re obsessed with bureaucratic paperwork instead of actually monitoring what’s happening on the ground over a four-day period.

"- spending time in an indoor setting (like a classroom, a conference room, or a waiting area in a healthcare
facility, etc.) with someone who has COVID-19 at a distance of less than six feet for a duration
longer than 15 minutes – spending time indoors at a distance greater than six feet might
still constitute close contact, depending on whether the sick person has symptoms, mask usage, and the ventilation
of the room… every single indoor contact needs to be assessed on an individual basis"

Michelle Nelson4 said:It feels like some people here have thousands of posts, yet they act like they just landed from Mars. It’s been over for a long time; anyone who has recovered or been vaccinated isn't heading to intensive care. Besides, the standard protocol is for an epidemiologist to mandate isolation for the classroom, with a note stating that anyone providing proof of recovery or vaccination (which is a relatively recent update) can step forward to receive an exemption.

Since when was that "ages ago"? How are parents supposed to know? They don't even notify the parents.
A standard notification would look like this: "Good morning parents, this is Slavko, the teacher. We have one positive student; children are being sent into quarantine as contacts, but those with proof of prior infection or vaccination will be exempt."

Does anyone actually think people have the patience to follow their nonsense and take them seriously?
I stopped taking any of this seriously back when Plenković's fist bump with Djokovic happened.

A more competent government would have conducted widespread serology testing across the entire student population before the school year started. That would have made it perfectly clear who needs to quarantine and what the health risks are, ensuring classes could proceed without interruption.

rowdypanther12 said:Entire classrooms are being put into isolation despite the kids wearing their masks perfectly properly.
There’s zero explanation coming from either the school district or the local news.
They're just passing the buck while nobody bothers to answer any parents' questions.

Parents aren't even being notified. My child is currently in isolation, yet I haven't received a single notification regarding the quarantine order or any official decision from the CDC.

mellowskipper said:Yeah. We already had an entire class put into quarantine here too. It happened because of one student testing positive. But the logic seems to be centered on people not wearing masks. Those few who have their vaccination cards are still attending classes with other grade levels.

They’re cramming entire classrooms into Special Instruction, regardless of whether the kids are vaccinated or have already recovered. It feels like a total setup—epidemiologists are demanding Covid certificates, which makes me wonder if they're just playing games by sending some kids to SI without proof while everyone else stays in regular school. Or maybe they're just compiling lists to push vaccinations on more children. Out of a class of 28, only about 14% are vaccinated; I bet there are plenty of furious parents out there vaccinating their kids just because they end up in Special Instruction either way.
They definitely gave it a fresh coat of paint.

Douglas Stewart53 said:High schoolers are basically ignoring the rules. They either aren't wearing masks at all, or they wear them completely wrong—nose and mouth sticking out. If that's the case, what's the point? They'll pull a mask up just to get past the entrance, and then the circus begins. I don't know if those parents who claim they "saw everyone wearing masks in front of the school" realize what an average American high school classroom actually looks like. Masks come off at the first opportunity. In gym class, everyone is hanging out in the locker rooms without masks—an even tighter space than the classroom. They eat, they sing, they share drinks, they take selfies... when a teacher walks in, they shove a mask halfway onto their faces. As soon as the bell rings, the masks come right back down because not wearing one is "cool." That's how it works in high school. You don't see that in elementary school, where the kids might actually try to fit in by following the rules. In high school, being rebellious is the goal. I assume the epidemiologists realize this. It goes without saying for anything happening outside school grounds. There's zero logic in isolating students sitting left or right 😵 when they're constantly moving around anyway. Of course they're going to trigger isolations. Not only are they mixing within their own classes like they always have, but now different groups and electives are mixing too. What someone sees in front of the school building has absolutely nothing to do with what happens inside once the pack gets together.

Nobody even bothers with masks anymore once you step away from the crowded spots. They're either gone or just sitting on someone's chin.
There's really no need to single out the kids.

Michelle Nelson4 said:I mean, unless we’re talking about the Black Death or some massive eruption of Tobe, it’s just business as usual.🙂

At my local school, they say two entire classes have already been sidelined. In one of them, it feels like they're pulling positive cases out of a hat—it seems like someone new gets flagged every single day. Just take it easy, everyone; I’m predicting things are going to get pretty lively in about two weeks. (P.S. The rapid tests at my neighborhood pharmacy are already sold out; we're just waiting on the next shipment 😂).

Today, an epidemiologist was asking for Covid documentation and status updates on all the kids in the quarantined classroom—who’s vaccinated, who had it, etc. I just told him that my kid isn't exactly planning on crossing any state lines anytime soon.

Wrap up the school year and start packing those cables.
Let them reform, reorganize, or shuffle things around however they want, because the current education system clearly isn't built to handle a pandemic, and the principals and administrators simply haven't risen to the occasion.
As of tomorrow, an entire high school class is stuck staying home for online learning. Why? Because one student tested positive, even though they weren't even physically at school yesterday.
With a massive 60-hour delay, they’re forcing an entire classroom into isolation, completely ignoring all the previous announcements stating that only the students sitting nearby would be affected.

The whole system is a joke. Honestly, they might as well just keep everyone home for a year while they actually build up some real capacity—both physical and staffing—because what we're seeing right now is totally senseless.

amberrider said:It’s honestly pathetic. Am I really supposed to be fighting for justice regarding his education for the third day in a row?

Maybe this will help you out. They finally released the documents today that you can send directly to the principal as a parent.
https://cijepljenje.info/vazno-upozorenje-obavijest/
"This document was drafted in accordance with:

the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the United States and in accordance with fundamental and natural human rights,
as specified by international conventions which form part of the domestic legal order and hold supreme authority over national laws,
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and in accordance with the Family Act."

Honestly, nobody is forcing anyone, but they’re playing it safe so that no child ends up feeling like the odd one out.
That said, whether the lower grades in Elementary School have to wear them really just depends on the principal's call.
Last year, our principal was so strict he actually ordered that kids couldn't even move away from their assigned desks just to prevent them from getting too close to one another.

wanderingbadger44 said:The Government is standing behind them, and the Prime Minister personally signed the decision.

The decision makes it perfectly clear that everyone is required to follow the CDC's guidelines as well as the Department of Education's models and recommendations.

II.

Elementary schools, high schools, and preschool facilities under organized management are required to act in accordance with the Guidelines for preventing and controlling the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic regarding the operation of preschools, elementary, and high schools during the 2021/2022 school year, issued by theCDC.

III.

For students in elementary and high schools during the 2021/2022 school year, instruction will be carried out according to the teaching models established in the Models and Recommendations for operating under conditions related to COVID-19 during the 2021/2022 academic year, set by theDepartment of Education.

It doesn't say "everyone"—it specifically applies to principals and heads of major universities. 🥱
This decision is just another classic move by Plenković to dodge any actual responsibility.