2021/2022 School Year

Alex Morales47 said:Piggy, are you actually worried that being vaccinated means you won't end up infecting them—assuming they're all vaccinated, of course? I mean, based on how they're constantly disinfecting everything in their path, it seems like they are. It really goes to show that they're just as terrified as everyone else; it’s honestly frightening to see what they've done to people.

I wouldn't necessarily say I'm living in fear, though I suppose I am feeling a bit exhausted by the constant hyper-vigilance this pandemic demands and that heavy sense of heightened responsibility for everyone else's health. I realize there's a very slim chance of anything serious happening if we do get sick, and an even smaller chance that I'd be the one to bring some little virus into the office from a bus ride, but still, I can't help but wish we could all just... relax a little more.

The restrictions are staying in place because of the unvaccinated—regardless of how anyone feels about that logic.

The unvaccinated crowd loves to say, "Hey, you don't need to protect us," but let's look at the big picture: what happens if the healthcare system actually collapses? What if people are literally dying at the door because there isn't a single hospital bed left? That hasn't happened yet—and honestly, it won't—but if we scrap all the rules right now, we’re dancing on the edge of that cliff. Our healthcare system is already struggling as it is. We aren't Denmark. For context, about 95% of seniors over 80 in Denmark are vaccinated. Here in the States, we're seeing much different numbers in certain areas.

Now, look, personally? I’m all for reopening. I couldn't care less. If those old folks want to kick the bucket, that's on them. I'm exhausted from everyone constantly demanding we shield them. (I know, I know, urbantinker8 is probably going to jump down my throat for being "politically incorrect" again 😁).

But I totally get why Andrej Plenković is sticking to these measures. If the hospitals go under, they lose the election. And let's be real: losing an election is a way bigger headache than losing lives.

Hannah Stewart said:I wouldn't necessarily say I'm living in fear, though I suppose I am feeling a bit exhausted by the constant hyper-vigilance this pandemic demands and that heavy sense of heightened responsibility for everyone else's health. I realize there's a very slim chance of anything serious happening if we do get sick, and an even smaller chance that I'd be the one to bring some little virus into the office from a bus ride, but still, I can't help but wish we could all just... relax a little more.

Nobody is responsible for anyone else. My responsibility ends with myself and my kid.
Am I supposed to be responsible for my 75-year-old dad, who refused the vaccine and then spent two weeks hacking away at home because he wouldn't go to the hospital due to COVID-19?
By that logic, you aren't responsible for your fellow professors either.

Sent from my PRA-LX1 using Reddit

Hannah Stewart said:I wouldn't necessarily say I'm living in fear, though I suppose I am feeling a bit exhausted by the constant hyper-vigilance this pandemic demands and that heavy sense of heightened responsibility for everyone else's health. I realize there's a very slim chance of anything serious happening if we do get sick, and an even smaller chance that I'd be the one to bring some little virus into the office from a bus ride, but still, I can't help but wish we could all just... relax a little more.

Seriously, just relax. You’ve done everything you can, and that’s that. Sure, the illness is serious, but for a healthy person, it’s usually nothing to worry about—especially if you've been vaccinated. All that constant stressing over "what ifs" is just going to wreck your immune system, making it way easier to actually catch something.

Check this out. It's interesting—stressing out, combined with the lack of social interaction (which is basically what we've been doing for the last year and a half), does absolutely zero favors for your immunity.
Stress Weakens The Immune system

mellowskipper said:Nobody is responsible for anyone else. My responsibility ends with myself and my kid.
Am I supposed to be responsible for my 75-year-old dad, who refused the vaccine and then spent two weeks hacking away at home because he wouldn't go to the hospital due to COVID-19?
By that logic, you aren't responsible for your fellow professors either.

Sent from my PRA-LX1 using Reddit

I hear you. I suppose I'm slowly trying to shift my perspective, though I think it might take me a little while to truly get there.

My old man doesn't want to get vaccinated either, but I've mostly come to terms with that. We don't even bring it up anymore because, honestly, every conversation feels like hitting a brick wall.

fadedranger162 said:Seriously, just relax. You’ve done everything you can, and that’s that. Sure, the illness is serious, but for a healthy person, it’s usually nothing to worry about—especially if you've been vaccinated. All that constant stressing over "what ifs" is just going to wreck your immune system, making it way easier to actually catch something.

Check this out. It's interesting—stressing out, combined with the lack of social interaction (which is basically what we've been doing for the last year and a half), does absolutely zero favors for your immunity.
Stress Weakens The Immune system

Thanks for the concern! I don't think I've completely lost my mind, I guess I just find myself constantly ruminating on (unpleasant) possibilities. At the same time, I can see that I really need a bit of a reset, since this whole period has definitely left its mark on our habits, our behavior, and our mental state.

It'll be fine; I expect I'll find my rhythm again after spending two or three weeks with my students. That's how it went last fall, too. They show up to campus with fevers, coughing, shivering, looking pale... I don't even have the words for it. Then they wander through the halls, stopping at individual offices to ask professors if they can just head home to recover. We even had one absolute idiot ask if he could sit in on lectures until his test results came back. So, here he is this morning, waiting around, trying to kill time, thinking maybe it isn't even Coronavirus and he shouldn't miss class. Honestly, it's hardly surprising that some of the older faculty members are living in a complete cloud of delusion. 😁

So, here’s the lowdown on my kid's school day today: apparently, some kid who caught the bug stayed home, and nobody even bothered to check in on him. They just pushed through classes until the bell rang, and then they basically told everyone they might see each other again on Monday. 😢

One of our relatives is in a class with six positive cases among the older students. A decent amount, I guess.

I was actually just posting over on Reddit about how last year's variants didn't exactly achieve any massive breakthroughs. You get one positive case show up in a first-grade classroom and suddenly—miraculously—none of the kids who were isolating at home catch it, only for them to end up getting sick three separate times during the school year.

And then you have those daycare groups where chickenpox hits; everyone ends up catching it within a month or two, and it happens in three distinct waves.

When the flu sweeps through a class, it’s totally normal for at least 10 out of 25 students to be completely wiped out. A couple of years back, it was literally half the class out of commission.

Yet they claim Delta is more contagious than the flu, but somehow less infectious than chickenpox.

I can't quite remember the exact R-naught values I saw mentioned—it might have been around 3 to 5 for the flu, maybe 10 for chickenpox, and Delta sitting somewhere around a 7 reproduction factor. Or something like that, anyway; that's how I recall reading it.

So, my buddy is sharing a bench with me right now, and honestly, he was looking pretty transparent yesterday, and today he’s already complaining about his stomach acting up.
We’ve all gotten our shots at home, so I guess we’ll just wait and see how this plays out.

And this sick little jerk is out at massive crowds downtown and in the parks every single weekend, so yeah, he's basically the prime candidate for spreading this thing.

urbantinker8 said:I suppose I got vaccinated in the hope that most people would see it as a logical, sensible decision during these crazy "new normal" times we've found ourselves in.
I went ahead with it because my daily life involves being in contact with hundreds of people for hours at a time.
I chose to get the shot mainly to minimize my chances of catching a severe case of the illness.

But I guess I'm not entirely certain, mostly because I'm still interacting daily with hundreds of unvaccinated people, which means I might still end up bringing this virus home to my unvaccinated kids. And please, don't start with the whole "but kids have mild symptoms" argument, because I really don't care about that—I just don't want my children to get sick. Period.
I'm uncertain because, honestly, it seems like there isn't much clear information out there regarding how long immunity lasts for those who were vaccinated.
And I'm also uneasy because, thanks to a massive crowd of unvaccinated fools who had the option but passed on it, we're basically leaving the door wide open for new variants—variants that my two doses might not even protect me against.

But then, how do you account for the fact that the exact same situation is playing out in countries where the vast majority of people actually *did* view it as a perfectly logical and reasonable decision?

driftingtinker said:So, my buddy is sharing a bench with me right now, and honestly, he was looking pretty transparent yesterday, and today he’s already complaining about his stomach acting up.
We’ve all gotten our shots at home, so I guess we’ll just wait and see how this plays out.

And this sick little jerk is out at massive crowds downtown and in the parks every single weekend, so yeah, he's basically the prime candidate for spreading this thing.

There is also an awful amount of enterovirus going around. We're seeing fevers hitting 102, some people just have diarrhea, others are dealing with both vomiting and diarrhea. Their CRP levels can even spike above 100. And yet, the COVID-19 test comes back negative.

Sent from my PRA-LX1 using Reddit

All of that, plus the fact that they’ve been cranking the AC in the classroom right above his head all week, so he's feeling a bit on edge... especially since he was already out on Monday because we suspected something might be up. It’s just a bunch of stuff piling up that isn't necessarily even about a virus. And now, his teachers are basically giving him a wide berth today because they know he's the closest contact; the second he lets out a cough, they practically leap back three steps 🙂

hiddendriver34 said:The restrictions are staying in place because of the unvaccinated—regardless of how anyone feels about that logic.

The unvaccinated crowd loves to say, "Hey, you don't need to protect us," but let's look at the big picture: what happens if the healthcare system actually collapses? What if people are literally dying at the door because there isn't a single hospital bed left? That hasn't happened yet—and honestly, it won't—but if we scrap all the rules right now, we’re dancing on the edge of that cliff. Our healthcare system is already struggling as it is. We aren't Denmark. For context, about 95% of seniors over 80 in Denmark are vaccinated. Here in the States, we're seeing much different numbers in certain areas.

Now, look, personally? I’m all for reopening. I couldn't care less. If those old folks want to kick the bucket, that's on them. I'm exhausted from everyone constantly demanding we shield them. (I know, I know, urbantinker8 is probably going to jump down my throat for being "politically incorrect" again 😁).

But I totally get why Andrej Plenković is sticking to these measures. If the hospitals go under, they lose the election. And let's be real: losing an election is a way bigger headache than losing lives.

I won't jump down your throat, but that's just really ugly phrasing for a quote.
I don't wish for anyone to "pass on," whether they've had their shots or not.

Alex Morales47 said:But then, how do you account for the fact that the exact same situation is playing out in countries where the vast majority of people actually *did* view it as a perfectly logical and reasonable decision?

I wouldn't go so far as to say the situation is "identical."

Update: My homeroom teacher just hit the group chat at 9:30 PM asking who actually got vaccinated because the school nurse is putting together a list.

What a total circus 🙂

I wonder how many of them have actually been vaccinated? Are we talking about high school seniors here?

Sent from my PRA-LX1 via Reddit

driftingtinker said:Update: My homeroom teacher just hit the group chat at 9:30 PM asking who actually got vaccinated because the school nurse is putting together a list.

What a total circus 🙂

Here is what I sent back to the teacher when they asked for an explanation.

"I also feel it’s inappropriate to use a WhatsApp group to ask people to publicly disclose sensitive health information; we really don't need more COVID-related bullying happening in schools. If the epidemiologist actually needs this data, please feel free to pass along my contact info so I can discuss it directly."

That’s how you handle these things, folks. Don't let them get away with being superficial, careless, or dodging their own epidemiological protocols.
They need to assess every close contact on an individual basis instead of just blindly sending people into isolation based on some digital COVID passport.

mellowskipper said:I wonder how many of them have actually been vaccinated? Are we talking about high school seniors here?

Sent from my PRA-LX1 via Reddit

About 12-15% in a single senior class.

driftingtinker said:Update: My homeroom teacher just hit the group chat at 9:30 PM asking who actually got vaccinated because the school nurse is putting together a list.

What a total circus 🙂

Man, I am so incredibly glad I finished my schooling back before the social media era. Seriously, screw this guy for sending messages at 9:30 at night. Honestly, anyone bothering me at this hour deserves to be shut down.

mellowskipper said:I wonder how many of them have actually been vaccinated? Are we talking about high school seniors here?

Sent from my PRA-LX1 via Reddit

Realized this a few minutes later:
"If anyone actually is, just DM me... don't want to put anyone on the spot in the thread." 🙂 🙂

Junior year of high school, really. Just a handful of kids with older or sickly parents.

Grace Edwards said:Man, I am so incredibly glad I finished my schooling back before the social media era. Seriously, screw this guy for sending messages at 9:30 at night. Honestly, anyone bothering me at this hour deserves to be shut down.

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.