Is school important for kids? Absolutely! Is social contact with peers important for kids? Of course! Would I love to have my kids back in school in the fall? Duh - I’m not an elementary school teacher. 1/2
My concern isn’t based on wanting schools closed forever. It’s not about mandatory masking. My concern is that our government isn’t willing to invest the money required to make schools safer and better. 2/
We were concerned about class sizes pre-COVID. Now it’s those concerns PLUS infection/transmission risk. We were concerned about aging buildings before. Now that poor ventilation is a clear daily threat to health. 3/
We were concerned about chronic underfunding of education before. We lost librarians, EAs, etc. Now schools are cutting janitorial staff...during a pandemic. 4/
If a government can look at all those issues and ignore them, it’s not great. If a government is willing to be blind to their impacts on health and safety during a pandemic and STILL do nothing...that’s where my concern grows. 5/
Education is LITERALLY an investment in our future. Our kids need quality education in safe environments to succeed in the future. To get jobs and pay taxes and CPP and support the adults of today through their sunset years. 6/
We will need to replace retiring teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, scientists, writers, etc at some point. The people who do that are in the education system today. 7/
Kids know their parents and teachers are worried about safety in schools in September. They’ve heard every word the adults around them are saying. They ALSO need reassurance that the adults who are supposed to keep them safe at school WILL ACTUALLY DO THAT. 8/
My kids figured out pretty quickly that I don’t have magic healing powers, that kisses don’t REALLY heal injuries, and that Bandaids are just a lid. They know masks aren’t a magic shield to stop all COVID. 9/
Patients I have had test positive for COVID were quickly identified by those around them/in the community. They were targeted, attacked, treated as villains. This will happen in schools. 10/
I’m a Family Physician. My goal is prevention. Sure, I’m great at treatment, but I’d really rather we kept everyone healthy in the first place. 11/
