Read on Twitter
Someone really close and someone I have never met mentioned this tweet lacks nuance and may be misconstrued. I agree it deserves clarification. Bear with me if you can... https://twitter.com/DGBassani/status/1357706636643688453
I am a parent with three young kids that have been in virtual school since March. It is hard. I pretend it is not, for me and for them, but it is awful. For a while I felt I was trying to act in the pandemic adaptation of 'Life is Beautiful' for the kids, only I had no script.
The schools vs. pandemic debate is a false dichotomy that has presented as the only two options: You can pick unsafe schools but good mental health or no schools, but then you are ensuring kids will be in grave distress. This is as false as the unfair pressure on parents is real.
But there is a 3rd option that few talk about. We'll get to that later. What is currently being proposed: reopening with no plan and no metrics, will lead to increase in cases, another shutdown, possibly with little warning, and kids will be home again. And that will be bad.
There is no question that the 2nd closure was much more detrimental to kids than the first one. It has been especially hard on kids that went back to in-person school because kids need predictability and changing the course with little warning is very hard on them.
A 3rd closure will not help improve their wellbeing, but it is inevitable if we reopen haphazardly. And it will happen, because that is the choice that was made for us, not by us.
Instead of ensuring the support kids need to cope with a very difficult situation, and working to improve school safety, while strict social isolation for a few weeks ensures incidence is driven to safer levels, we are being offered two very polarized options. "Chose your side!"
While we wait for incidence to fall, we could be investing in a strong molecular screening system for school populations that could take us through the last stretch of this pandemic and build our expertise to quickly implement it on the next one; because yes, it will come.
We could reopen safely even in higher incidence areas if we had strong surveillance using frequent rapid molecular tests. We could test everyone in every school as often as needed. We would identify infections and remove them before they infect others. It has been done. It works.
In lower incidence areas you could test everyone weekly, in higher incidence areas you may need to test them daily, or every 2, 3, 4 days. It costs more to do it with high incidence, but it also works, if one is willing to invest in safety.
Yes, schools can be safe in a pandemic if we're willing to invest in safety. It's feasible to have smaller classes. It's feasible to monitor air quality & improve ventilation. It's feasible to mask everyone and have strict cohorting. None of these are in place. It's all 'sort of'
Instead, the argument shifted from 'kids don't amplify the pandemic' to a much more charged argument around mental health and wellbeing. Who would argue for something that triggers suicides and self-harm? Who would dare to say the struggle of the young ones is not real?
We're being lured to 1 of 2 options while the very much real middle ground is being ignored. As parents, grandparents, uncles, etc, we see the struggle young kids are going through daily. What we miss is that we're being offered a situation that will bring more struggle, and soon
It will also extend the intense (high cases, high deaths) periods of this pandemic much more than necessary, with closures, economic suffering and immense healthcare costs. And the kids will be home, with burned out parents and teachers trying to adapt to a new strategy, again.
The uncertainty, key ingredient to damage kids wellbeing will be served to them as a cold tin-foiled 2020's leftover: What's going on? How long will it last? Will we go back before end of term? Who will be in my class after the next parental scramble to assess risk by themselves
Mental health has become a noble excuse to justify policies that have only one goal: reopening the economy. The argument about infectivity of kids was lost, mental health was picked as the next contender. And it works, because we all see the hardships at home. So that is real.
Luckily, not many of us has caught it, had a case in the family, or lost someone to this virus. But we see (and hear, loudly) the kids while we try to work. Reopening is an enticing argument that mobilizes people. Sadly, it will not bring us closer to normality. Just the opposite
Here we are, taking the marshmallow test as a team, and someone is cheering us to eat it. If we wait 30 minutes we'll be rewarded with 2 marshmallows, but if enough of us eat our marshmallows, the clock re-sets to zero and we have to wait another 30 minutes for the same reward.
Is it worth it for those who eat it? I don't know. Is it worth it for the team? Certainly not. The evidence about mental health damages during the pandemic does not support the extremist view of complete chaos. But go ahead, eat your marshmallow. Or maybe you could reconsider?
Somehow, right now, large child mental health programs in this city have the shortest wait times for referrals they've seen in years. So the services to support kids are available. Why isn't the message 'This is hard on kids and parents, but we can help.'? I think we all know why
This is the 3rd option that is not being explained clearly. If we wait, this can be the last time schools are closed. If we use the waiting time to build the structure that is needed to ensure schools are safe, this can be the last time schools are closed.
If we support our kids through the next few weeks they can get through this with us, and then go back to safe schools, and perhaps even enjoy summer camps next July. They can have birthday parties and sleepovers. Believe me, this can be the last time schools are closed.
If we join forces to advocate for small classes, this can be the last time schools are closed. If we pressure decision-makers to ensure air quality inside classrooms and test every single kid and staff weekly, this will be the last time schools are closed. But we have to wake up.
We have to stop fighting over two options as if they were the only ones. We have to demand the third option and ensure it is implemented with fidelity, and we need to be ready to be one team fighting for it. This can be the last time schools are closed. But only if we want it.
