Posts by Susan James

Keith Martin7 said:I honestly don't see much point in vaccinating kids anymore since the whole narrative about shots being better than natural immunity has completely flipped over the last month.
I’ve been constantly Googling "natural immunity vs vaccination," and up until recently, every headline seemed to scream that getting the jab was way superior to just recovering from the virus naturally.

But ever since that massive study came out of Israel showing that natural immunity is actually 10 to 20 times more effective at preventing reinfection compared to the vaccine, the media has stopped acting like vaccination is this perfect shield against infection.

Just look for yourselves:
https://www.google.com/search?q=natu...&bih=638&dpr=1

The bottom line is that while the vaccine definitely helps lower your chances of ending up in the hospital, I'm really not buying the idea that vaccinating children is going to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Plus, if natural immunity really does last longer, it makes sense for kids to be exposed to the virus while they're young, since they’ll be encountering it throughout their lives anyway. Keeping them stuck at home in isolation doesn't seem to make much sense to me, unless the goal is just to push vaccinations for the sake of pharmaceutical profits.

hiddendriver34 said:Right, because obviously, the homeroom teacher does it just for the sheer thrill and excitement of it. It’s not like they can imagine a single better way to spend their evening.

A teacher's job isn't to act as a data collector for vaccination records.
PERIOD.
And they certainly shouldn't be doing this during their regular hours, let alone after work.

They can simply forward an email from the school nurse to the class or the parents, and that should be plenty.
There's no need to deal with this outside of working hours either—not even for updates on someone being in quarantine.
From what I remember, last year they were collecting info on our chosen doctors, and we had to update our emails and phone numbers, but they told us the CDC would contact us directly if anything was needed.

Ronald Chavez2 said:Since when did a positive test result become synonymous with being sick, or justify labeling everyone as "newly infected"? Does that mean anyone carrying the virus without symptoms is also officially considered a new case?

It’s not about whether they were tested—obviously, they were.

For about a year and a half now, we've been treating anyone with a positive test as if they're actively ill. It's created this perfect excuse to enforce 10 to 14-day quarantines for people (usually kids) who were just exposed to someone who tested positive.
Beyond the fact that we're restricting children's movement and potentially risking their development by exposing them to other illnesses—which can honestly be way more dangerous than COVID, especially since most kids in isolation don't even develop symptoms—the government is also pouring millions of dollars into paid leave for parents who are stuck at home caring for perfectly healthy kids.
But hey, I guess that's how we protect the elderly from dying, right? Especially those seniors who choose not to get vaccinated and insist on living a "normal life."

It's pretty strange. Last year, if you weren't visibly symptomatic, you couldn't even get a real test; you were just logged as "likely sick," which meant no vaccine pass for you. Yet today, we have a preschool teacher who's twice vaccinated, barely feels anything, yet tests positive... and suddenly a whole group of toddlers is in isolation along with their parents out on sick leave (I actually saw this discussed on another thread...).

Larry Walker24 said:EVERYONE who turns 15 loses their right to attend Elementary School

In that group, it's mostly usually Rom

Correction.
They lose the right to attend regular classes. They can still finish up via correspondence courses.

wanderingbadger44 said:Can we please just stop all this constant bickering over whether attending elementary school should be mandatory?

Just because school is mandatory doesn't mean there isn't a specific set of rules and expectations governing how a student actually conducts themselves while they're on campus.

It feels like he’s living under someone else's thumb, constantly navigating a rigid schedule dictated by others, following strict house rules, and trying to make sense of dozens of different regulations they expect him to follow at his elementary school.

Attending school is a fundamental part of growing up, much like how following the rules of the road keeps everyone safe during a long drive; you have to respect the established guidelines and conduct yourself according to the standards set by the institution.

It would be quite something if he hit that famous fifteen-year mark right in the middle of the school year, just so they could kick him out of middle school without even receiving his eighth-grade diploma. Then, Dad can spend his evenings trying to force his own ideas on him instead.

I had the same thought when the local authorities announced those special education measures and child separation... if parents held them back from first grade because they weren't ready, then technically that kid doesn't have to stay in a mainstream public school anymore. They could just go to an alternative program. It's high time he stops disrupting everyone else's learning.

If I were a parent with a kid in a school where someone acts out like this—with police and news crews showing up every single day—I’d be filing a lawsuit against those troublemakers for interfering with my child's right to a normal education.
He should just head over to a city like Phoenix or wherever the mayor lifted the mask mandates.

Nicholas King said:Nothing has actually been decided in San Diego.

The fact that the San Diego mayor thinks he’s the master of the universe is his own personal issue—not ours.

BTW, has anyone actually published any credentials regarding this father who sits outside the school every single day to "educate" his son? I mean, clearly, the man possesses an incredibly vast spectrum of knowledge and expertise if he's supposedly capable of "educating" an eighth grader in every single subject.

Sinai is a true Hero.
He doesn't need schooling ☕

coastalorca43 said: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.

Personally, I don't think kids are the ones bringing viruses home. I'm fairly certain that if they do get sick, it’s usually because the adults they live with passed it to them.
In fact, I once traveled abroad with my child to a place where neither she nor we needed a COVID pass or even a mask. 😉

If you claim a specific group doesn't need to wear masks, the rest of the people will either follow the rules (wearing masks/getting vaccinated) or they'll just lie about it. Realistically, who is actually checking?

If you hand the fight against masking over to people who don't even believe COVID exists, then everyone ends up forced to wear masks, some might even turn aggressive during the debate, and schools will end up treating kids like they're in a bubble. You have to pick your battles wisely.
If you're scared, just put a cloth over your face and keep quiet. Don't make a scene about rights or discrimination.
"We are the vaccinated class, and we believe our kids shouldn't need masks."

Last school year, quite a few schools—some pretty large ones—didn't require masks at all because the classrooms were spacious enough.
A parent should probably know the square footage of their child's classroom and how many students are in it; that way, they can see if they can actually fight for no masks since other safety measures are being met.
That was the question from our forum member.

Chris Grant3 said:Oh, come on. That’s just a recipe for dividing and segregating kids. 👎

Why not?

The whole point is that a kid wears a mask so they don't bring the virus home, right?
If the people at home who had contact with the virus in one way or another are already protected, then everyone's safe.
As for those who refuse to get vaccinated—well, maybe they’re just waiting to catch it naturally and then lie about being vaccinated.
Do we really need to protect people like that? Personally, I don't think so.
If you give some people permission to stop wearing masks, everyone else will either lie about it, stay obedient by wearing them, or just go get the shot.
In theory, we could all be mask-free.

There's a tiny minority who can't get vaccinated for various medical reasons, and they've been staying safe through different means for years. Some of them kept their kids in online school last year until the vaccine arrived. They might still be doing that now. But they are a very small group.

And honestly, this "separation" isn't the disaster people make it out to be.
Think about how the high schoolers feel—those who got vaccinated but still have to sit there with those cloths over their noses just because their parents refuse to get the jab.

By the way, talking about discrimination is a bit moot when we still have all these restrictions in place.
If vaccine passports were implemented everywhere, everything would be wide open without any delays. But since we're dealing with our usual local bureaucracy here, even those passports would probably end up getting lost...

The way they're introducing this only for essential workers sends a pretty ugly message to the rest of the public.

Tyler Ruiz502 said:Look, I'm just describing how things work at our local school here in the States, and frankly, I can't help but wonder where this pressure is coming from—the demand to abolish them entirely—when students are essentially required to wear them during class hours anyway.

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).

Michelle Nelson4 said:Taking care of a 6th grader who isn't even sick? That's just... 🙏
The sheer amount we all pour into our taxes and insurance contributions—honestly, even Monty Python and Kafka couldn't dream up a scenario this absurd.

Beyond just paying for it, I actually have two people at my job who basically get paid to do nothing while someone else picks up their slack.

By the way, one of them stayed home last year because her kid was in eighth grade.
At first, she was complaining that it would be better if she didn't come into the office while her child was on sick leave, just in case she developed symptoms and ended up infecting us. You know how it goes—kids bring COVID-19 home from school to their parents.
Then, once we got those rapid tests, we suggested she come in and test alongside her kids. When they all came back negative and it turned out she didn't need sick leave after all, she suddenly claimed she couldn't let her kid do online school alone because she "couldn't monitor anything"—citing eighth-grade enrollments, blah blah blah... during that period when all schools were forced into remote learning, she was officially on sick leave for herself... you get the idea.
Some people really make the most of the situation.

We're paying for all sorts of things.

rowdypanther12 said:You'll need to provide an address; I can send someone out to perform checks at the location you specify for each period of isolation.

They could, but honestly, they don't have enough people on staff to pull that off. They aren't even sending inspectors to weddings, and apparently, everyone is expected to show proof of vaccination like it's some mandatory rule. 👎
Imagine 200 people. Two hundred! All in super close contact, and nobody is wearing masks because they don't want to ruin their makeup.

Plus, when you start squeezing the healthcare system about vaccine cards, all it does is cause massive backlash, which will just lead to everyone calling in sick en masse.

rowdypanther12 said:Who actually finds it worth it to work from home while looking after a school-aged kid?
, for most people in that situation, it’s just not financially viable to do both.

Anyway, I'm curious—how do they even plan on checking if the kids are actually home?
They can't seriously expect children to run to the door and answer the bell, right? 😂
And then what happens? Someone shows up for a check, the kid doesn't open up, and you get hit with a fine?

For some folks, working from home really does make sense (it’s not just about the money; having more free time matters too, especially when someone else handles the heavy lifting at the office regardless).

There aren't any inspections coming. They haven't been doing that for a while now.
The real downside is that it makes it tough for kids to get to their sports practices.

rowdypanther12 said:It's been 14 days since the contact, yeah.

So, we're looking at 14 days of zero activity. 🤦
Schools, daycare centers, and nursing homes are pretty much the only places where epidemiologists actually track self-isolation cases. That's it.
Most people just don't mention their contacts unless they really can't stand working from home—and even then, employers usually only allow remote work if you're officially in isolation.

I have a few colleagues who find it easier to just take sick leave to care for their kids. It’s a total headache if they have to keep doing it every time their little ones end up in isolation, especially when it's perfectly healthy kids being kept home by parents.🤦

mellowskipper said:It seems like we are constantly trying to protect the people who won't get vaccinated. But it's pretty clear that those of us who haven't been vaccinated don't want to be "protected" in that way—we just want a normal life and to take personal responsibility for our own health.

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.)

rowdypanther12 said:I'm just talking about elementary school.
but if they're going to tell everyone that kids will only be isolated if they're near an infected student, then they should either stick to that or actually follow through.

Think about it—you’d have a teacher or a homeroom instructor who’d essentially have to take the heat for naming "Student A" and "Student B" just because they sat closest to someone testing positive. Without having to dig through every single lesson plan or grading sheet, how many teachers do you honestly think would step up and pick two specific kids? Instead, they’ll likely just invite a parent into the mix—one parent who refuses to let their child go into remote learning, versus five others who are desperate for it because their kid didn't make the cut for some selective program.

On the flip side, we spent the entire last school year hearing about constant infections, yet high schools saw a massive wave of positive cases.
There must be a significant number of people who have been vaccinated; otherwise, the local health officials would have been panicking on these forums all year long. Remember, the vaccinated group includes those with probable infections who haven't even taken a test yet, plus those using rapid tests. I’ve heard about plenty of vaccinated high schoolers, not just the 16+ crowd.

So, picture this: out of 25 students, 15 are vaccinated and 5 are not. Most don't even need to switch to remote learning. Are we really going to hold online classes just because of those 5? They might not have even been near the infected student, and they're probably wearing masks anyway.
In my opinion, that's only an issue if a teacher personally prefers teaching online and is pushing for it.

If the majority of the class is moving to remote learning, then sure, everyone goes online.
Though, if you ask me, kids could actually use the exposure right now. It’s still sunny and warm outside, so they can spend plenty of time outdoors. Plus, they’ve built up their Vitamin D levels over the summer, and vaccines are still doing their job for the elderly. It feels a bit silly to force them into isolation and keep them cooped up at home—who are we actually protecting? Is it just the ones who are hesitant about the vaccine?
Maybe just give them two days of isolation, run a quick test, and send them back to school.

hiddendriver34 said:I’m pretty sure that entire class finished their schoolwork for the whole week by Tuesday, because I saw the whole group hanging out together at the coffee shop right next to the high school.

😂
It would be nice if someone from the restaurant industry finished up early too, rather than just the students! 🧐

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.

See, if you're vaccinated, you can just jump into a different section's lecture.🙏

Wait, how are they not wearing masks? How big is your classroom?

If the whole group is going to go remote, then honestly, let them skip the masks. Whatever, might as well get through this stuff as quickly as possible.

From what I’ve gathered, epidemiologists aren't planning to send entire classrooms to remote learning, mainly because some kids are still recovering from being sick (it can take about 9 months to fully bounce back). If you have a class of 25 students and only 5 actually need to stay home, it just doesn't make sense to force everyone else into online classes.

High schoolers who caught everything last school year and were basically spreading Covid everywhere now have built-up immunity, plus we have the vaccinated kids too.
Personally, I think Fuchs made a sensible call by suggesting only those in close contact need to switch to remote learning. I'm not entirely sure how they're organizing the logistics—whether it’s parallel coursework or if they'll be using cameras in the classroom so those few students can follow along remotely—but it seems practical.
In my opinion, only the people who are actually sick should be staying home. Just test the close contacts and call it a day.

copperpuma11 said:That isn't standard procedure. I was just in a classroom where a rapid test flagged one positive case, which was later confirmed by a PCR test. That student and two others are home now. Everyone else stayed at school.

How did they decide on those two specifically?

vividstag6 said:If I were the only one complaining, I might understand, but there are far too many people suffering from horrific symptoms and long-term consequences who suddenly decided they want things back to exactly how they were before Covid. It seems some people refuse to grasp that this is a virus capable of hitting individuals incredibly hard—even fatal in some cases—and that it spreads with terrifying speed, not to mention the mutations... But by all means, let's just scrap the restrictions and spread it everywhere...

In my own neighborhood, I know plenty of people over 50 who aren't vaccinated and have no intention of being. They haven't even had the virus before. One woman is heading to a wedding this weekend, and two others are planning to go next week. I'm not even counting the younger crowd; they'll likely breeze through it.
People have gone a year and a half without any real celebrations, and honestly, we all need to live our lives and make up for lost time.
If people aren't worried about their own safety, why should I be worried for them? It just frustrates me that we're even debating school restrictions when you can basically walk into the country without a care—take a quick negative test in the morning, deal with a headache by the afternoon, and find out you're PCR positive with a mountain of symptoms the day after.
It especially gets under my skin when I hear how easy it is to bypass rules at weddings, treating those Covid certificates like they're just a formality, yet in schools, based on what we see in the news, they'll still end up shutting down entire classrooms.