No End In Sight To The Crazy Covid Madness In Our Schools

This one should have been a layup. One of the myriad of arbitrary, unfounded and unnecessary restrictions the schools have placed on us out of Covid fear is that any child that travels by airplane is prohibited from coming to school for 14 days. Based on numerous studies that have concluded that, in fact, airplanes have a much lower probability of Covid transmission than most other activities we all engage in daily (such as going to the supermarket, Shul or ironically even school), I respectfully asked the schools my children attend to consider removing this restriction from their policies. (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/risk-covid-19-exposure-planes-virtually-nonexistent-masked/story?id=73616599)

 

I have yet to hear back from one of them but I recently heard back from the other one and their response is indicative of everything that is wrong with how we as a community (and society) are approaching our response to Covid. If we don't change course, we will be living under these conditions for literally years, with continued severe (and often catastrophic) consequences for so many individuals and families. 

 

So what was the school's response? They admitted that the risk of travel by airplane is in fact extremely low. It’s pretty hard to dispute that. Nobody really does. On this the "science" isn't really called into question. But they are not willing to change the policy because "Whether or not the actual risk is real, there is a perception of increased risk (maybe based on the Joint Medical Committee recommendations and other schools’ policies). By deviating from all the other schools, we would be alienating many parents, potential parents, and teachers."

 

So there you have it. Proof positive that what is driving our guidelines is not based on science, not based on protecting anybody, not based on keeping kids in school - but entirely based on FEAR and giving into the mob. The policy is designed to placate the few in our community who have irrational fear and whose voices are loud.

 

Now you might say - what's the big deal? Who cares about a stupid policy on airplanes when most families aren’t in a position to go away and/or the logistics are too complicated? Here's why it's a very big deal. It demonstrates that the goalposts keep moving. The schools said at the outset that they were going to attempt to limit the amount of Covid spread while recognizing that they couldn't prevent it entirely. What we've seen though is that policies (like excessive quarantining above what the state requires) have shifted to not accepting ANY risk. This policy moves the goalposts even farther. It now says that even zero risk would not be acceptable if there is even the "perception" of risk.

 

This criteria by definition can never be satisfied. What it means is that we will likely be under these draconian restrictions for a very long time. That means continued emotional & psychological damage to many children, sub-optimal educational outcomes for many kids and more needless shalom bayis issues for countless families. The list of other maladies is long and I've covered that in previous posts.

 

We are all sheep being led to the slaughterhouse. If you're reading this, why are you allowing this to happen? Why are you being silent? How much longer are you going to allow your children to suffer like this? Will you wait another month? Another year? When is enough enough? Gershon Distenfeld can scream from the rooftops and my inbox can be full of people thanking me for being brave enough to speak up on behalf of so many who agree, but that won't change a thing. Until all of you who say that you agree with me actually speak up, nothing will change. Because the few fear mongers aren't shy. Their loud voices are in our leader's ears. They are constantly telling them things like if you loosen up on airplane restrictions, you will kill grandma. Literally unfounded but that's what they insist.

 

If you're happy with a future where in a couple of years, our community is severely damaged economically and psychologically, continue to stay silent and write me glowing e-mails about what a great guy I am for writing this stuff. But I'd prefer that you stop doing that. I don't need that. I'm fine with just the hate mail. I'd much prefer instead that you take the time to write/call the schools you send to and demand that we stop this nonsense already. Return to normalcy. It's the only way out.

 

I know that 80% of the community agrees with me. If not more. The leadership of the schools think that 80% disagree with me. And the only reason why is because the 10-20% who disagree speak up and almost all of you reading this are silent. So if you want things to change, YOU need to change it.

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P.S. I’m well aware that the schools just sent out another absurd letter, further spreading fear and telling us what we can and can’t do in our own homes. I will bli neder address that next week.