Oregon governor ordering teachers to return to classroom

[Sancho]

9. ...it's not just the vaccine...

Yes, getting a vaccine is important, but schools need more changes to open than the vaccine availability:

1.) Students are CROWDED in many rooms - on busses, in cafeterias, in hallways, on playgrounds, and in classrooms. It's not that many children catch the virus (some do), but the adults DIE. I personally knew two educators in my area who died (ages 41 and 65).
2.) Some schools have terrible ventilation. Many older buildings don't have central systems. Virtually none have pathogen-level filters or UV scrubbing. That needs to be fixed.
3.) Many families are not truthful about infected kids, and testing is slow, and notification is slow. By the time a positive student is identified, they have usually been wandering around the school for several days or a week. Tracing is non-existent and "self-report" by the families for the most part.
4.) School districts don't want to invest in plastic barriers or curtains or entrance-screening stations.
5.) Teachers already spend lots on their classrooms and materials, and some school districts don't provide PPE (gloves, masks, etc.).
6.) School districts don't always deal well with teachers who get sick. Employees may have some paid days built up, but those run out quickly if someone misses work for several weeks or a hospital stay. Schools need to deal with long-term illness contracted while on the job.

Yes, money is an issue, but also schools and school boards are resistant to a number of CDC recommendations - and they certainly don't want a precedent that would make schools safer. Those of us who have been in classrooms for many years (I started in 76) have long memories of the germ factory that we work in...so most of us were careful and getting vaccines (long before covid-19. Teachers are sensitive because virtually all teachers have seen some bug spread around the school and staff just about every year. The difference here is that this virus kills a certain number of people, and no one wants to be the last teacher to die before things get better.