OMG! . . . A Surge, Reconnoiter


On 12/3/20 my local newspaper reported on two separate issues, both related to the Covid pandemic. What made this of interest to me was the apparent incongruity when comparing the actual statistics and the actions of “those that know best.”

First off, our county like the rest of California is experiencing an increase of Covid cases. As best I can remember the increase in cases as the weather turned colder was anticipated by just about everybody . . . everybody apparently except those who are “in charge” of sending children back to school. Here in San Diego “those that know best” concerning children and when to send them back to school (the School District) had chosen early January, 2021.! (While trying to be kind, I am having difficulty choosing a worse date.)

Reconnoiter! 

Early January is obviously winter, and the school-aged children will have just finished with the expected family get-togethers that are ubiquitous during the holiday season. Ergo, the previously “well thought out” plan to send children back to in-person learning in early January, seemed not only questionable, but . . . err, trying to again be kind . . .  downright stupid!

Reconnoiter!

Surprise! Surprise!  The School District just announced that they are no longer planning on re-opening in-person instruction in January because of the increase in Covid cases. (BTW: the local newspaper repeatedly uses the word, “surge” to describe increases, but to me this word has lost its meaning as every increase in the last six months has been referred to as “a surge.”) Anyway the all-knowing School District is again delaying, delaying, delaying because of an increase in Covid cases that had been predicted by just about everybody. They are now planning on announcing another new reopening timeline in mid January . . . I guess that they figure that the present “surge” will be over by then.

In the newspaper on the same day there was the daily update on the different age ranges from 0 to 80+ and the hospitalizations and deaths for these age ranges. 

The following will focus only on the ages of the school children:

Age 0-9 (mostly preschool and early grade school) – 3583 cases with 83 hospitalizations and 0 (zero) deaths. In other words these young children who contract Covid have only a 2.3% chance of being hospitalized and a 0% chance of dying.

Age 10-19 (mostly middle school and high school) – 8531 cases with 81 hospitalizations and 0 (zero) deaths. In other words these children have only a very low  0.95% chance of being hospitalized, and a 0% chance of dying.

After reading these up to date stats for Covid and school children, can somebody please explain to me why school children are not back in school . . . not back in school months ago? If they would have returned to school back in September as I had suggested back then, perhaps “those that know best” would not be trapped on this delay, delay, delay treadmill.

Reconnoiter!

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