Little by little, the teachers’ union narrative is being chipped away. No, that’s not right. The narrative has more bullet holes in it than Uday and Qusay Hussein, with Joe Biden not even supporting the narrative that schools should be shuttered due to COVID. This was probably unintentional, but during his recent CNN town hall event—President Depends shredded the narrative for why schools should remain closed. Kids, in general, don’t get it and they don’t spread it. That is a fact.
President Biden shreds teachers unions' entire argument:
— Mark Bednar (@MarkBednar) February 17, 2021
"Children aren't the people most likely to get COVID"
"You're the safest group of people in the whole world, number one. Number two, you're not likely be able to be exposed to something and spread it to Mommy or Daddy." pic.twitter.com/h8AxLCac1m
The CDC says reopen the damn schools. It’s safe—but teachers’ unions would rather be lazy. We have two examples of schools reopening and nothing happening, making all these teachers protesting with body bags and drafting wills looks like complete and total morons. In Florida, schools were reopened in August, and guess what—they’re not sources of so-called super spread. Florida's Ron DeSantis has been ahead of the curve on a multitude of issues regarding COVID--and this is no different. It's going to drive the Left even more insane. We just govern better than them. Period (via WSJ) [emphasis mine]:
It is almost impossible to overstate how much better @GovRonDeSantis did in handling coronavirus than the naysayers in the media thought possible. pic.twitter.com/2Wrk1sd3Wd
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 18, 2021
As school districts around the U.S. continue to grapple with whether to reopen classrooms amid the coronavirus pandemic, data shows Florida started in-person learning without turning schools into superspreaders.
The state was one of the earliest to resume in-person instruction in August, following an executive order by Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran that directed districts to provide families the option of classroom learning five days a week or risk losing funding. The mandate triggered outcry among some teachers and parents who considered it risky, and drew unsuccessful lawsuits aimed at blocking it.
In the seven months since, Florida schools have avoided major outbreaks of Covid-19 and maintained case rates lower than those in the wider community. Mr. Corcoran said 80% of students in Florida are now attending schools in-person full- or part-time.
[…]
“It felt rushed and certainly had some glitches,” said Barbara Jenkins, superintendent of Orange County Public Schools, which includes Orlando. But, she added, “I would say overall it has been successful.”
Public-health specialists point to a few possible explanations for the success. Many schools adhered as best they could to guidance on mask-wearing, social distancing, contact tracing and quarantining. Given that adherence has been uneven, though, another likely reason is that young children don’t transmit the virus efficiently, said Eric Toner, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Florida consistently has had lower rates of Covid-19 in schools than in the community at large, according to a data dashboard created by Brown University, data company Qualtrics and others. Available information allows them to track cases among students and staff at schools but not pinpoint whether infections occurred in schools or elsewhere.
In the last two weeks of February, the daily case rate per 100,000 people was 22 among students and 15 among school staff, compared with 27 in the community, according to the data. In earlier periods going back to October, the student and staff rates were almost always less than half the community rate.
Recommended
This isn’t an outlier. Across the country, in Irvine, California, their schools reopened in September of last year. As of March 3, there were only 17 COVID cases out of 23,000 student body. As for staff, just three cases out of 3,000 employees. Guy has written extensively on how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, long vilified by the liberal media for his COVID agenda, has finally been vindicated, with Florida Democrats even wondering if the governor was right all along.
FL is largely open, NY far more restricted.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 1, 2021
FL has 2M+ more residents than NY & far more seniors.
FL 26k COVID deaths, NY 43k.
As of 1/30, FL 7,600 new cases (+4.3%), NY 10,800 (+6.3%)
FL ~6k hospitalized, NY ~8k.
FL ahead of NY on vaccinations: https://t.co/JVbArZo29C pic.twitter.com/D4ETs9brMz
Join the conversation as a VIP Member