SARS-CoV-2 is surely the most remarkable virus in the history of epidemiology. After all, it’s surely the only virus known to be able to discriminate between a few dozen people gathering for a wedding or funeral, and tens of thousands of leftist protesters cramming into city centres.
But it’s not done there. The pesky Wuhan virus is learning at a frightening rate: now, it can decide whether or not to infect teachers depending on whether they’re in a classroom or packed together for a protest.
Teachers across the country have begun organizing protests to voice concerns about the Trump administration’s push for schools to reopen in the fall despite the coronavirus pandemic and to pressure school districts to delay the start of face-to-face instruction.
Hands up anyone who can spot the contradiction there. Anyone?
“This is going to tip teachers that were already on the fence about not teaching any longer into the territory of this is certainly not worth it, if they were thinking, Maybe I can hang in a little bit longer,” [Lisa] Ellis said. “The number one concern is the fact that nobody seems to care about the physical risk of teachers going back into the classroom — even with the hybrid models that are being presented, the students may not be there all week, but the teachers have to be there all five, and we have to work with all of the students”[…]
In Arizona, where teachers voted to walk out during a strike in 2018 in conjunction with the Red for Ed protests, teachers have been frustrated by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s communication and plans around school reopenings. Organizers with Arizona Educators United have been hosting protests in their districts to push them to adopt plans to continue virtual learning or delay the start of the in-person school year until cases are under control[…]
Wes Oswald, a third-grade teacher with the Tucson Unified School District and a member of the Arizona Educators United group…says he’s sat in on town halls that have been planned by education advocacy groups to plan protests and to discuss teacher demands for returning to their classrooms.
So cramming into a town hall with hordes of other leftists is fine and dandy, but stepping foot in a classroom is a guaranteed death sentence?
These protests are being organised under the auspices of the openly socialist “RedforEd” movement. More and more, this is looking less like a principled stand for elf’n’safety than a heavily left-wing profession (nearly 90% of teachers vote Democrat) simply addicted to protesting for its own sake – or worse, for far-left political causes.
Teachers unions in America have included in their demands for re-opening such clearly pandemic-related issues as defunding police, eliminating private schools, taxing the wealthy, socialised medicine and public housing.
Still, there’s at least one ray of hope in this nonsense:
In South Carolina, organizers told BuzzFeed News that they’ve heard from multiple teachers who have decided to look for employment in other industries or who have decided to retire early. In one school district in the state, 21 positions have been left vacant since the start of the pandemic.
Good. Perhaps this will be the start of the clear-out this fast-degrading profession so desperately needs.
Meanwhile, forget hand hygiene, hydroxychloroquine or face masks – protesting is clearly the only protection against the Black Death of the 21st century.
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