Monthly Archives: October 2020

American Academy of Pediatrics strongly backs in-person learning in schools

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Excerpt copied below:

The purpose of this guidance is to support education, public health, local leadership, and pediatricians collaborating with schools in creating policies for school re-entry that foster the overall health of children, adolescents, staff, and communities and are based on available evidence. Schools are fundamental to child and adolescent development and well-being and provide our children and adolescents with academic instruction, social and emotional skills, safety, reliable nutrition, physical/speech and mental health therapy, and opportunities for physical activity, among other benefits. Beyond supporting the educational development of children and adolescents, schools play a critical role in addressing racial and social inequity. As such, it is critical to reflect on the differential impact SARS-CoV-2 and the associated school closures have had on different races, ethnic and vulnerable populations. These recommendations are provided acknowledging that our understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is changing rapidly.

Any school re-entry policies should consider the following key principles:

  • School policies must be flexible and nimble in responding to new information, and administrators must be willing to refine approaches when specific policies are not working.
  • It is critically important to develop strategies that can be revised and adapted depending on the level of viral transmission in the school and throughout the community and done with close communication with state and/or local public health authorities and recognizing the differences between school districts, including urban, suburban, and rural districts.
  • Policies should be practical, feasible, and appropriate for child and adolescent’s developmental stage.
  • Special considerations and accommodations to account for the diversity of youth should be made, especially for our vulnerable populations, including those who are medically fragile, live in poverty, have developmental challenges, or have special health care needs or disabilities, with the goal of safe return to school.
  • No child or adolescents should be excluded from school unless required in order to adhere to local public health mandates or because of unique medical needs. Pediatricians, families, and schools should partner together to collaboratively identify and develop accommodations, when needed.
  • School policies should be guided by supporting the overall health and well-being of all children, adolescents, their families, and their communities. These policies should be consistently communicated in languages other than English, if needed, based on the languages spoken in the community, to avoid marginalization of parents/guardians who are of limited English proficiency or do not speak English at all. 

With the above principles in mind, the AAP strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school. The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring of 2020. Lengthy time away from school and associated interruption of supportive services often results in social isolation, making it difficult for schools to identify and address important learning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation. This, in turn, places children and adolescents at considerable risk of morbidity and, in some cases, mortality. Beyond the educational impact and social impact of school closures, there has been substantial impact on food security and physical activity for children and families.

Policy makers must also consider the mounting evidence regarding COVID-19 in children and adolescents, including the role they may play in transmission of the infection. SARS-CoV-2 appears to behave differently in children and adolescents than other common respiratory viruses, such as influenza, on which much of the current guidance regarding school closures is based. Although children and adolescents play a major role in amplifying influenza outbreaks, to date, this does not appear to be the case with SARS-CoV-2. Although many questions remain, the preponderance of evidence indicates that children and adolescents are less likely to be symptomatic and less likely to have severe disease resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, children may be less likely to become infected and to spread infection. Policies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within schools must be balanced with the known harms to children, adolescents, families, and the community by keeping children at home.

Finally, policy makers should acknowledge that COVID-19 policies are intended to mitigate, not eliminate, risk . . .

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Better, I think, to be guided by pediatricians viewing the Big Picture than by the more hysterical bug doctors who are lacking practical knowledge.

— MRW

Typically, the suspect’s friends will defend his depraved actions

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The misguided do-gooders will probably ignore this bloody murder, as they do all other wrongdoing of every kind by the small minority of homeless people who cause all of the problems, and seek to blame society. I’m here to tell you: Boulder Rights Watch and all the rest are full of crap!

— MRW

Trump Derangement Syndrome is real; here’s another example

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The next logical step is to slip in Democrat flyers! Or maybe require the poor to pledge allegiance to the Far Left in order to receive American taxpayer-funded assistance.

Certainly, the IRS should consider revoking the tax-exempt status of the groups involved in this subterfuge.

Nothing new here: Decades ago, a boatload of US foreign aid goods was being unloaded at an African port, intended for distribution to needy people in that country, but impostors were stamping the boxes with this label in the native language — A gift to you from the workers of the USSR.

— MRW

‘The Halloween Outhouse Caper’

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I think that my Grandfather, E.B. Weller, must have been the target of tricksters on Halloween, because something surely soured him on the whole idea of passing out treats to roaming bands of youngsters . . . According to family oral history I heard from an early age, Grandpa Weller would keep a bucket of cold well water by his front door, and the first innocent trick-or-treaters would be doused; all others would then avoid Grandpa’s home like it was haunted.

The only explanation for how he got away with this is the fact that Grandpa Weller was principal of the local school, and kids must have believed that it wouldn’t be a good idea to report the truth of what happened to their parents. Parents in those days would have presumed that there was very good reason for the school principal to have tossed a bucket of water on their kids, and would probably have added to their misery with a good paddling.

I’ve laughed heartily at this tale over the years, whether it’s true or not, and I’m doing so now.

— MRW

And now, ‘Chickenpooper’ wants to do for America what he’s done for Denver

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You have to wonder how long the do-gooders can continue to peddle the same ol’ Snake Oil Remedy for homelessness . . .

— MRW