US Georgia Schools Reopen To Packed Hallways And Students Testing Positive For COVID-19 - 'We know the football team has tested positive for covid already.....but we're not actually going to make masks mandatory in school knowing we have infected students'

Georgia Schools Reopen To Packed Hallways And Students Testing Positive For COVID-19

Students in Georgia's Paulding and Cherokee counties went back to school this week, with decidedly mixed results.

ca.news.yahoo.com

Georgia Schools Reopen To Packed Hallways And Students Testing Positive For COVID-19

Reopened schools in Georgia’s Paulding and Cherokee counties drew negative attention this week after viral photographs appeared to show students packing hallways with little regard for social distancing or mask-wearing.

The most prominent images were taken on Tuesday by a 10th grader in North Paulding High School who posted them on social media and described the hallway situation as severely jammed.

Other viral images showed students from Cherokee County’s Etowah High School and Sequoyah High School standing in close proximity for senior photos with nary a mask in sight.

Prior to schools reopening on Monday, North Paulding High School’s principal, Gabe Carmona, sent a letter to parents alerting them that members of the football team had contracted COVID-19, not specifying the numbers or the severity of their cases.

According to BuzzFeed, Carmona also addressed the viral images on Wednesday, reportedly stating over the intercom that students who publicly criticized the school on social media could face disciplinary action.

Two students — including the 10th grader who posted the images of the crowded hallway — told BuzzFeed they were suspended for sharing photos online, with school administration citing violations of the school’s phone policy and posting pictures of minors without consent as reasons for the punishment.

https://sneed.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/U01EZ3PyOkIRv0OqjsRd5Q--~A/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw/https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5f2af1b22200002b28388279.jpeg?cache=UbQRz1rAle
A photo taken Aug. 4, 2020, by a student at North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia, shows students crowding hallways while fewer than half wear masks. (Photo: Handout/AP)

Paulding County Superintendent Brian Otott also addressed the images in a statement, arguing that they were being criticized “without context” and saying the crowds only lasted for a “brief period” when students were transitioning between classes.

“Wearing a mask is a personal choice and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them,” Otott said. “What we will do is strongly encourage all students and staff to wear masks.”

Paulding County schools have both in-person and “virtual academies” available during the fall semester, and according to Atlanta media outlet 11Alive News, 70% of the county’s 31,000 students have returned for in-person learning, with 9,000 in online classes.

A notice on the district’s websites says that while students and staff are encouraged to wear masks during in-person schooling, face coverings will not be mandatory because “the school district recognizes that wearing a face mask is a personal choice for families.”

A reopening plan on the Cherokee County School Board website reveals a similar strategy, with both in-person schooling and a digital learning program in place. Regulations require “all employees to wear face coverings in situations where social distancing cannot be achieved,” while students are “strongly encourage[d] and recommend[ed]” to wear masks.

The plan indicates that the school district “will provide every student with two reusable cloth masks upon request.”

On Tuesday, school officials at Cherokee County’s Sixes Elementary School announced that a second-grader had tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the student’s class of 20 students to undergo a two-week quarantine.

A message from Superintendent Brian V. Hightower said that the district was “going to take positive cases seriously” and shut down schools if necessary.

“We need to fight that good fight together: social distance when we can, and mask up when we can’t; wash our hands, and be kind,” Hightower said. “We are stronger together.”

Atlanta pediatrician Frita Fisher, an advocate of mandatory masks and social distancing in the classroom, told 11Alive News that reopening Georgia schools with shaky social distancing measures and without making masks mandatory for all students was “very frustrating and unsettling.”

“It’s upsetting because we are sending our kids to school knowing that we are putting them at an increased risk for spreading coronavirus among themselves and to the community,” Fisher said.

This story has been updated to reflect that students sharing photos of North Paulding High School’s crowds received suspensions.

- end of article -​

So.... The school knows there are infected students, opens the school anyway and explicitly allows those students to be in school, while not making masks mandatory even for those people they know are infected......all the while suspending people who post proof of people gathering in crowds at said school or criticizing the school

Oh yeah, this will end well. The faculty may as well be wearing tshirts that say 'sue me' on them, cause if it gets around the school and a bunch of kids end up in the hospital parents are going to lose their shit. God help the school board if someone dies

 

[round robin]

This entire thread needs to go to the thunderdome, tbqh. All of you are retards.

 

[Local Coyote]

To break up the aggressive amounts of autism, the students who posted the photos of school hallways got suspended for it.

Mobile so can't archive.

 

[Lurker]

To break up the aggressive amounts of autism, the students who posted the photos of school hallways got suspended for it.

Mobile so can't archive.

i thought that suspension was overturned?

yeah i was right (ignore the actual url, the title must've been changed at some point, also can't seem to archive, may just be me being retarded)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/08/06/georgia-teens-shared-photos-maskless-students-crowded-hallways-now-theyre-suspended/

 

[Fanatical Pragmatist]

naw man there's no conspiracy, the government never lies. ever. especially not this government, under this current administration. nawwwww

You're literally accusing people of being conspiracy theorists while outright claiming there is a conspiracy to manipulate the statistics.

and then you lovely individuals still aren't acknowledging the aftereffects of the virus, which also fuck people up. sure, you won't die from covid, you'll just have permanently damaged organs and potentially be fucked for the rest of your life, but at least you're alive, right? man you got me.

edit: also, you're the one throwing numbers at me. where's YOUR real stats, my dude?

This is probably a waste of keypad-fingering, but fuck it here we go:

Let me preface this by explaining that Coronaviruses are not like HIV (retrovirus), Herpes (DNA virus) or Shingles (DNA virus) - they are a simple RNA virus. They hijack individual cells but they do not alter the host's DNA like Retroviruses (which are an advanced form of RNA virus which can reverse-transcribe its RNA to alter the host's DNA) or true DNA viruses. Simply put, this means that Coronaviruses infect, do the damage, and then are done and gone without permanently changing the host. So, any long-term damage that comes from COVID must happen within that infection window of four days to two months. It is also worth noticing that there is no evolutionary advantage to causing long-term damage for a basic RNA virus, therefore any and all damage is "incidental" rather than "intentional".

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is the primary vessel for long-term damage because it basically deprives your other organs of oxygen. ARDS is also a major culprit in the "hyper-coagulation" reported in a small number of cases which causes blot clots, strokes, heart attacks, etc. (source). It is important to note that ARDS is strongly linked to hospitalizations, specifically ICU admissions:

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-we-know-about-the-long-term-effects-of-covid-19

(Archive)

Now unfortunately ideal information about what true percentage of COVID cases require hospitalization and/or ICU admission is surprisingly hard to come by in a both reliable and condensed, direct number. However, we can make some estimates about hospitalization and ICU rates using existing data.

Based on early data from the CDC, the hospitalization rate of COVID-19 is 20-31% (with an associated fatality rate of 1.8 - 3.4%)
(Raw Source)
If we use theses number, we can generate a rough-guess range for the number of people vulnerable to "long-term affects" of COVID-19 by cross-referencing them with numbers for infection mortality rate (IFR) (where IFR is our proxy for unreported asymptomatic/mild cases).

For a good meta-analysis (taking data from 32 peer-reviewed articles), I'll be using the following paper:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.13.20101253v3

(Archive)

Spoiler: Show your math

By comparing more plausible estimates of IFR to the previously estimated IFR, we can get a percentage of what the true hospitalization rate would look like.
For example, 1.31 is about 73% of 1.8, therefore hospitalizations would reflect only 73% of their previous estimate, while 0.27 is just 15% of 1.8, therefore hospitalizations would reflect about 15% of their previous estimate.
HOWEVER, something to consider is that deaths are "eating from the same plate" as are long-term effects, hence the subtraction of the IFR rate from the correct hospitalization/ICU numbers

	CDC 20% Hospitalization (1.8% IFR)	CDC 4.9% ICU (1.8% IFR)	CDC 31% Hospitalization (3.4% IFR)	CDC 11.5% ICU (3.4% IFR)
Ioannidis Max IFR (1.31%)	14.6% (- 1.31 = 13.29%)	3.5% (-1.31 = 2.19%)	11.7% (-1.31 = 10.39%)	8.3% (-1.31 = 6.99%)
Ioannidis Median IFR Epicenter (0.27%)	3% (-0.27 = 2.73%)	0.74% (-0.27 = 0.47%)	2.2% (-0.27 = 1.93%)	0.81% (-0.27 = 0.54%)
Ioannidis Median IFR Normal (0.1%)	1% (-0.1 = 0.9%)	0.25% (-0.1 = 0.15%)	0.62% (-0.1 = 0.52%)	0.23% (-0.1 = 0.13%)

Now its important to note that while these estimations are rough, that they are still likely over-estimations for a number of reasons:
1) Data is from earlier in the pandemic and uses a smaller sample size
2) They assume everyone that either is hospitalized and/or has severe cases will end up with long term side effects, which is not a given. Because of what I said earlier about COVID being a basic RNA virus which does not permanently colonize the host like HIV, Herpes, Shingles, etc.; it can only damage in that short time frame which means that the estimated excess of severe cases far outweighs the few statistical outliers where mild cases resulted in long-term damage.
3) Asymptomatic/mild cases are a relatively dynamic variable, while hospitalization and death rates are largely static.
4) Preexisting/underlying conditions. These rates do not reflect how many people were already vulnerable (i.e. if you already have damaged lungs, ARDS is more likely to do more damage to the lungs; if you're already obese you are more likely to blot clot, etc.)

Personally, I'd put the most stake in the 0.47-0.54% estimates, simply because the Median IFR is going to be the better proxy than the best/worse case estimates; but either way in most circumstances long-term damage is far from the inevitable, impending and highly-likely monster its made out to be.

 

[Iwasamwillbe]

I'm just going to ask this to the people in this thread who apparently want the lockdowns and mask mandates to continue:

When will it finally be "safe" to reopen the schools and the economy?

When will it finally be "safe" to take off the mask for good?

 

[Fanatical Pragmatist]

I'm just going to ask this to the people in this thread who apparently want the lockdowns and mask mandates to continue:

When will it finally be "safe" to reopen the schools and the economy?

When will it finally be "safe" to take off the mask for good?

When the virus is magicked away with the power of society.

 

[Lurker]

You're literally accusing people of being conspiracy theorists while outright claiming their is a conspiracy to manipulate the statistics.


This is probably a waste of keypad-fingering, but fuck it here we go:

Let me preface this by explaining that Coronaviruses are not like HIV (retrovirus), Herpes (DNA virus) or Shingles (DNA virus) - they are a simple RNA virus. They hijack individual cells but they do not alter the host's DNA like Retroviruses (which are an advanced form of RNA virus which can reverse-transcribe its RNA to alter the host's DNA) or true DNA viruses. Simply put, this means that Coronaviruses infect, do the damage, and then are done and gone without permanently changing the host. So, any long-term damage that comes from COVID must happen within that infection window of four days to two months. It is also worth noticing that there is no evolutionary advantage to causing long-term damage for a basic RNA virus, therefore any and all damage is "incidental" rather than "intentional".

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is the primary vessel for long-term damage because it basically deprives your other organs of oxygen. ARDS is also a major culprit in the "hyper-coagulation" reported in a small number of cases which causes blot clots, strokes, heart attacks, etc. (source). It is important to note that ARDS is strongly linked to hospitalizations, specifically ICU admissions:

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-we-know-about-the-long-term-effects-of-covid-19

(Archive)

Now unfortunately ideal information about what true percentage of COVID cases require hospitalization and/or ICU admission is surprisingly hard to come by in a both reliable and condensed, direct number. However, we can make some estimates about hospitalization and ICU rates using existing data.

Based on early data from the CDC, the hospitalization rate of COVID-19 is 20-31% (with an associated fatality rate of 1.8 - 3.4%)
(Raw Source)
If we use theses number, we can generate a rough-guess range for the number of people vulnerable to "long-term affects" of COVID-19 by cross-referencing them with numbers for infection mortality rate (IFR) (where IFR is our proxy for unreported asymptomatic/mild cases).

For a good meta-analysis (taking data from 32 peer-reviewed articles), I'll be using the following paper:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.13.20101253v3

(Archive)

Spoiler: Show your math

By comparing more plausible estimates of IFR to the previously estimated IFR, we can get a percentage of what the true hospitalization rate would look like.
For example, 1.31 is about 73% of 1.8, therefore hospitalizations would reflect only 73% of their previous estimate, while 0.27 is just 15% of 1.8, therefore hospitalizations would reflect about 15% of their previous estimate.
HOWEVER, something to consider is that deaths are "eating from the same plate" as are long-term effects, hence the subtraction of the IFR rate from the correct hospitalization/ICU numbers

	CDC 20% Hospitalization (1.8% IFR)	CDC 4.9% ICU (1.8% IFR)	CDC 31% Hospitalization (3.4% IFR)	CDC 11.5% ICU (3.4% IFR)
Ioannidis Max IFR (1.31%)	14.6% (- 1.31 = 13.29%)	3.5% (-1.31 = 2.19%)	11.7% (-1.31 = 10.39%)	8.3% (-1.31 = 6.99%)
Ioannidis Median IFR Epicenter (0.27%)	3% (-0.27 = 2.73%)	0.74% (-0.27 = 0.47%)	2.2% (-0.27 = 1.93%)	0.81% (-0.27 = 0.54%)
Ioannidis Median IFR Normal (0.1%)	1% (-0.1 = 0.9%)	0.25% (-0.1 = 0.15%)	0.62% (-0.1 = 0.52%)	0.23% (-0.1 = 0.13%)

Now its important to note that while these estimations are rough, that they are still likely over-estimations for a number of reasons:
1) Data is from earlier in the pandemic and uses a smaller sample size
2) They assume everyone that either is hospitalized and/or has severe cases will end up with long term side effects, which is not a given. Because of what I said earlier about COVID being a basic RNA virus which does not permanently colonize the host like HIV, Herpes, Shingles, etc.; it can only damage in that short time frame which means that the estimated excess of severe cases far outweighs the few statistical outliers where mild cases resulted in long-term damage.
3) Asymptomatic/mild cases are a relatively dynamic variable, while hospitalization and death rates are largely static.
4) Preexisting/underlying conditions. These rates do not reflect how many people were already vulnerable (i.e. if you already have damaged lungs, ARDS is more likely to do more damage to the lungs; if you're already obese you are more likely to blot clot, etc.)

Personally, I'd put the most stake in the 0.47-0.54% estimates, simply because the Median IFR is going to be the better proxy than the best/worse case estimates; but either way in most circumstances long-term damage is far from the inevitable, impending and highly-likely monster its made out to be.

some conspiracies can be valid, you know. and then i can also make fun of retarded conspiracies. two things can be true at once!

i'm looking at what you've got typed here and while i appreciate the effort, and it certainly looks like an effort (that isn't meant to be an insult), i'm not a doctor. i'm assuming that what you have here is accurate because i'm not going to read through entire scientific papers, most of which i probably won't understand because i'm a dumb.

the thing i take issue with, however, is assumptions. you can assume, based on early data, that these things will occur in a certain fashion. i don't like assuming things. this virus is still incredibly new, and it's going to take quite a bit of time to really grasp what it is capable of. i know that is a coronavirus, and there are many strains of coronaviruses out there, and they tend to act a certain way. we could assume that this will be the same, but those 150k deaths in the US alone are making me wary of this information.

i'm not saying you're wrong or that you're being dishonest. i'm just not entirely sure how to interpret the data.

 

[ConfederateIrishman]

I'm just going to ask this to the people in this thread who apparently want the lockdowns and mask mandates to continue:

When will it finally be "safe" to reopen the schools and the economy?

When will it finally be "safe" to take off the mask for good?

Vaccines. The economy is going to have to open way earlier than that however, so just make masks Mandatory and keep Schools closed.
Trump pushing for emergency welfare through executive order was also a good step.

By the way, I don't know why my fellow racists want Public Education to reopen so badly; The longer this disruption goes on the less Children will be filled with propaganda about hating themselves and feeling guilt for their ancestor's actions.

Since our system is built off the Prussian Education system, all it really does is teach loyalty to the State, and there is nothing worth being loyal to for the modern American State.

 

[Nobunaga]

Genuine question, how many times do you need to be send to adolf&hitler spergatory until you stop being a sperg hulk?

 

[Lurker]

Vaccines. The economy is going to have to open way earlier than that however, so just make masks Mandatory and keep Schools closed.
Trump pushing for emergency welfare through executive order was also a good step.

By the way, I don't know why my fellow racists want Public Education to reopen so badly; The longer this disruption goes on the less Children will be filled with propaganda about hating themselves and feeling guilt for their ancestor's actions.

Since our system is built off the Prussian Education system, all it really does is teach loyalty to the State, and there is nothing worth being loyal to for the modern American State.

i mean really, if you just make masks mandatory, i think we'd see a dramatic decline in cases. it's true that eventually the economy has to open, and so be it. just one tiny thing would make a world of difference. we just need to get people onboard.

Genuine question, how many times do you need to be send to adolf&hitler spergatory until you stop being a sperg hulk?

what was the purpose of this post? it contributes nothing to the thread and you're being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. at least contribute something, man.

 

[Fanatical Pragmatist]

some conspiracies can be valid, you know. and then i can also make fun of retarded conspiracies. two things can be true at once!

i'm looking at what you've got typed here and while i appreciate the effort, and it certainly looks like an effort (that isn't meant to be an insult), i'm not a doctor. i'm assuming that what you have here is accurate because i'm not going to read through entire scientific papers, most of which i probably won't understand because i'm a dumb.

the thing i take issue with, however, is assumptions. you can assume, based on early data, that these things will occur in a certain fashion. i don't like assuming things. this virus is still incredibly new, and it's going to take quite a bit of time to really grasp what it is capable of. i know that is a coronavirus, and there are many strains of coronaviruses out there, and they tend to act a certain way. we could assume that this will be the same, but those 150k deaths in the US alone are making me wary of this information.

i'm not saying you're wrong or that you're being dishonest. i'm just not entirely sure how to interpret the data.

Okay that's fair enough.

I'm personally a biologist, but semi-living malicious proteins aren't exactly my forte, but I know enough about taxonomy and phylogeny. To hear people give a Coronavirus the power of HIV and Shingles "because virus" sounds like giving a new species of feline venomous fangs and the ability to breathe "because vertebrate!".

My other issue is that we were told there would be 2.2 million deaths in the US by now, and so far we aren't even at a 1/10th of that. The virus is new, and the scientific community is still learning - but more is known right now than was known 6 months ago (which is why I had to make estimates using new info because the old info is of diminishing reliability).

 

[Nobunaga]

what was the purpose of this post? it contributes nothing to the thread and you're being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. at least contribute something, man.

Im contributing by being an asshole
If you got a problem with that you can cry to mods

 

[Lurker]

Okay that's fair enough.

I'm personally a biologist, but semi-living malicious proteins aren't exactly my forte, but I know enough about taxonomy and phylogeny. To hear people give a Coronavirus the power of HIV and Shingles "because virus" sounds like giving a new species of feline venomous fangs and the ability to breathe "because vertebrate!".

My other issue is that we were told there would be 2.2 million deaths in the US by now, and so far we aren't even at a 1/10th of that. The virus is new, and the scientific community is still learning - but more is known right now than was known 6 months ago (which is why I had to make estimates using new info because the old info is of diminishing reliability).

i'll have to take your word for it, man. from someone who has a very basic understanding of biology, and, well, anything science-y, i can only go by what i see. 150k is still pretty bad. ain't no projected 2.2 million, thank fuck, but it's still pretty shitty.

inevitably things have to open up. i know that. we all know that. this can't go on forever. i just don't know WHEN. i do think that at least wearing masks will help, somewhat. time will tell how things go, of course. hopefully scientists and researchers and doctors can find a cure, or at least some standard way of treating this.

 

[X Prime]

what was the purpose of this post? it contributes nothing to the thread and you're being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. at least contribute something, man.

You are whining here about one so-named autist being an asshole for not contributing, but give a pass to the other guy whose posts are over half bitching about the alt-right who happens to agree with you about something.

 

[Lurker]

You are whining here about one so-named autist being an asshole for not contributing, but give a pass to the other guy whose posts are over half bitching about the alt-right who happens to agree with you about something.

he was contributing to the conversation. this delightful individual came out of nowhere with the intent to start shit with another user. i dunno, man, maybe you should join the conversation and contribute?

 

[Just Some Other Guy]

he was contributing to the conversation. this delightful individual came out of nowhere with the intent to start shit with another user. i dunno, man, maybe you should join the conversation and contribute?

Lo-fucking-l. "Someone interrupted our deep, insightful conversation just to start shit!"

What is this? Reddit?

 

[X Prime]

he was contributing to the conversation. this delightful individual came out of nowhere with the intent to start shit with another user. i dunno, man, maybe you should join the conversation and contribute?

At this rate you're going to take a leaf out of Something Awful and insist that people who disagree with you are not Posting With Effort.

 

[muh_moobs]

i'm comparing the outrage between the two, since they're both serious issues, and are potentially fatal. inb4 COVID ISN'T DANGEROUS REEEEE NOBODY EXCEPT OLD AND FAT PEOPLE GET IT REEEEEEE. we all know that isn't true, and the problem is that we do not know enough about the virus or the aftereffects of said virus. for all we know, those aftereffects could also affect people who are, or were, supposedly asymptomatic. in fact i would say that covid is potentially more dangerous due to lack of information. at least we get what HIV/AIDS do. we know how it transmits, we know how to prevent transmission, and we also have ways to treat it (both HIV/AIDS). (also note that i didn't say "cure")

you're right, school is a nasty, filthy, badly ventilated place where many diseases reside. but we know what the fuck those diseases are and what they do and whether or not there are lingering effects of those diseases, and we know how to properly treat them. the same cannot be said for covid19.

it's weird fucked-up that people seem okay with old or fat people getting it, but the and now the kids, oh, but they'll be FINE. (edit: the first sentence didn't make any sense, tried clumsily to fix it while trying to retain integrity of original post) it's not like the coronavirus can permanently damage organs or anything. i'm sure that's just a swell thing to have happen to people at such a young age.

edit: i guess what i'm trying to say, through my incoherent libtard rambling, is that sending kids off to school as though things are completely normal is fucking irresponsible. we have the resources for remote learning, and while there are issues with that that i have mentioned in my post before this one, it's better than THIS.

You understand that ordinary influenza has after effects that can fuck you up permanently, right? Your argument is invalid, and your brain is smooth if you think Coronavirus is something serious.

 

[The Last Stand]

I see two flaws in reopening schools.

Say the parent (s) have to work, then the children stay at home. If they are homeschooled, then the parent would have to match the curriculum of the public school system. More times with the kids could mean less time at work.

However, reopening schools would increase the chance of spread if not done properly. We know children aren't exactly the cleanest unsupervised. It takes ONE sick, careless kid now to spread like wildfire.

What if the teacher spreads it? What if the school lapses one time in this new normal? Who would be liable? All it takes is one link for this whole domino effect to fall.

 

[X Prime]

What if the teacher spreads it? What if the school lapses one time in this new normal? Who would be liable? All it takes is one link for this whole domino effect to fall.

This is the killer. You just know that some lawyer is salivating over the possibility of suing some school district if some kid catches COVID, regardless of the circumstances.

It seems that a preemptive move should be to execute all lawyers. Or, failing that, make it impossible to sue schools over them not having the psychic power to know who has COVID or not.

EDIT: Also, is it my imagination, or is the font size on your post smaller?