3 ms·

With the added bonus that it would be better for the students’ health generally and would likely improve overall educational outcomes. An awful lot of our hand

With the added bonus that it would be better for the students’ health generally and would likely improve overall educational outcomes. An awful lot of our handling of COVID has been farcical (a year and a half in, we’re still relying on cloth masks and obsessively sanitizing surfaces), but in the case of schools it’s veered toward absurdist/tragic.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
seventytwo 5y ago
The authorities have long since stopped recommending cloth masks and surface cleaning. Anyone still applying or recommending those methods isn’t up to date. There’s nothing farcical about recommending cloth masks and surface cleaning during the first few months of the pandemic when nothing was known about how the virus spread and when masks needed to be reserved for those on the front lines. The only farcical piece is how our society reacted to the recommendations of the experts.
- henrikschroder 5y ago
  > The authorities have long since stopped recommending cloth masks That depends completely on where you live, there are plenty of places that still have indoor or outdoor mask mandates, despite them being completely useless.
  - seventytwo 5y ago
    Those local regulations may not be using the best recommendations, either. There’s been plenty of cases of locales not using the best guidance. My point remains.
- roughly 5y ago
  > Anyone still applying or recommending those methods isn’t up to date. That's why it's farcical. In my area, you're required to wear your mask when you enter a restaurant and keep it on until you reach your table. Employees spend 8 hours breathing in the building through a cloth mask. Many places are still serving using single-use dishware to "stop the spread". Many people are still walking around with gloves on. I'm not saying these were bad recommendations at the time, but they've turned into talismans and rituals we do to ward off the evil spirit of COVID while people broadly go about their lives as before. Meanwhile, things like updating and repairing HVAC systems or restructuring buildings to maximize airflow, which both actually address COVID and have actual positive effects on health and wellbeing get short shrift, because we're wearing masks, so we're safe, and doing real work is expensive.
- blub 5y ago
  If one looks at a typical FFP2 or FFP3 mask, they have two years written on them - 2001 and 2009 - which reference the years the standards for such masks were published. Now this pandemic started around 2020, which is more than decade later. So recommending cloth masks was and is indeed farcical. Doing it after recommending against mask usage is idiocy. And no, the world’s collective scientific understanding of masks didn’t change between 2020 and 2021.
spaceisballer 5y ago
Maybe in some places. Thankfully in our school district they took the time while kids were doing school from home to upgrade ventilation and filtration (I believe a large part through federal grants). Also following CDC guidance for schools (masking, distancing, etc). Our county isn’t exactly highly populated but thankfully the school system has been great. It’s stressful with the kids back in school yet there have been no outbreaks at the school but we only seem to average one notification a week if someone who was sick (but we’ve gotten no close contact notifications). Sure seems like people are getting COVID elsewhere and potentially bringing it into school versus it spreading in school.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

seventytwo 5y ago

The authorities have long since stopped recommending cloth masks and surface cleaning. Anyone still applying or recommending those methods isn’t up to date. There’s nothing farcical about recommending cloth masks and surface cleaning during the first few months of the pandemic when nothing was known about how the virus spread and when masks needed to be reserved for those on the front lines. The only farcical piece is how our society reacted to the recommendations of the experts.

henrikschroder 5y ago
> The authorities have long since stopped recommending cloth masks That depends completely on where you live, there are plenty of places that still have indoor or outdoor mask mandates, despite them being completely useless.
- seventytwo 5y ago
  Those local regulations may not be using the best recommendations, either. There’s been plenty of cases of locales not using the best guidance. My point remains.
roughly 5y ago
> Anyone still applying or recommending those methods isn’t up to date. That's why it's farcical. In my area, you're required to wear your mask when you enter a restaurant and keep it on until you reach your table. Employees spend 8 hours breathing in the building through a cloth mask. Many places are still serving using single-use dishware to "stop the spread". Many people are still walking around with gloves on. I'm not saying these were bad recommendations at the time, but they've turned into talismans and rituals we do to ward off the evil spirit of COVID while people broadly go about their lives as before. Meanwhile, things like updating and repairing HVAC systems or restructuring buildings to maximize airflow, which both actually address COVID and have actual positive effects on health and wellbeing get short shrift, because we're wearing masks, so we're safe, and doing real work is expensive.
blub 5y ago
If one looks at a typical FFP2 or FFP3 mask, they have two years written on them - 2001 and 2009 - which reference the years the standards for such masks were published. Now this pandemic started around 2020, which is more than decade later. So recommending cloth masks was and is indeed farcical. Doing it after recommending against mask usage is idiocy. And no, the world’s collective scientific understanding of masks didn’t change between 2020 and 2021.

spaceisballer 5y ago

Maybe in some places. Thankfully in our school district they took the time while kids were doing school from home to upgrade ventilation and filtration (I believe a large part through federal grants). Also following CDC guidance for schools (masking, distancing, etc). Our county isn’t exactly highly populated but thankfully the school system has been great. It’s stressful with the kids back in school yet there have been no outbreaks at the school but we only seem to average one notification a week if someone who was sick (but we’ve gotten no close contact notifications). Sure seems like people are getting COVID elsewhere and potentially bringing it into school versus it spreading in school.