They're shooting the hostages. And the hostages are school kids and teachers.

[TomDaisy]

The GOP loves the fact that their determination to ruin Biden by fostering the spread COVID far and wide has the collateral damage of DESTROYING PUBLIC SCHOOLS --- burning out teaches, making them quit, ruining their lives and income, and in some cases killing them with COVID.

Also that kids aren't learning and are intensely suffering. This is all joyous news for conservatives who have wanted to take a wrecking ball to public education for 50 years. Public education. The great equalizer of American society.

And they hope the overall collateral misery helps them with Goal 1 - ruining Biden.

They're shooting the hostages.

[liberal N proud]

1. Republican plan...

Destruction of the USA

[ymetca]

3. The logical conclusion

to the ideology of so-called "free market capitalism", or the long-con of making people believe that "government IS the problem", not a bunch of no-good greedy shits sticking their snouts into the public trough.

They don't even agree that clean air is a "right" anymore, just another "profit opportunity".

[BigmanPigman]

4. So true, and so damn frustrating as well as depressing.

They are classic psychotics and socipaths yet too many are too stupid to save themselves. Unbelievable!

[cinematicdiversions]

5. A lot of Democratic mayors in Democratic states in a Democratic country are also trying

To keep the schools open.

There is no shortage of democrats from politicians to the rank and file opposed vehemently more school shutdowns.

This is not a simple right/left political issue.

This is an issue of the right of woman to work and provide for thier family.

[TomDaisy]

6. I agree it's complicated - BUT THE PANDEMIC WOULD BE OVER BY NOW BUT FOR

ratfucking by the GOP

[Calculating]

7. Not really

Omicron was gonna come over from Africa regardless of how well we controlled the earlier variants through vaccines, and Omicron changes the rules of the game. The GOP have made things worse throughout this, but Omicron was going to screw us regardless.

[Celerity]

9. No it would not be over. A shedload less dead, absolutely, but certainly not over.

[Dorian Gray]

8. Schools

We can not shut a whole system of schools down almost two years into this thing.

Schools are mostly a safe place to be. Kids 5 and older can and should be vaccinated. Their teachers can be vaccinated and boosted. They can wear high quality masks. They should have all had their ventilation improved with air flow. They should have HEPA filters in every room. And they should have accessible testing.

And they should be open.

Of course there are schools now where the staff is being hit hard, and they should temporarily move to remote. We SHOULD have, at this point, the ability to fluidly continue educating via remote in case of emergency. High staff absences should count as that.

But we have the tools in our arsenal to offer a safe educational experience for children.

This shouldn't be a left/right political issue, either.

It's a rights issue. Kids deserve an education. Their parents deserve stability in their work life.

22 months into this thing... WE KNOW how to keep people safe.

If teachers have health issues that put them at risk, we SHOULD have a process for them to be a part of a school system's remote team OR make it easy for them to receive disability benefits while the pandemic rages on.

There are demands we can make to make it safer. But closing schools again is not a realistic solution.