Thread by @DannyDangerOz

1/18 #CovidIsNotOver #COVID19nsw

So @AlboMP and @AustralianLabor want to keep kids in school because "it's better for them."

Let me tell you about about my kids current schooling, followed by a new local discovery about testing.

2/ Most days my kids have a *minimum* of 1 "Quad".

A quad is a period of no learning where anywhere between 20-120 students (out of 450) sit outside in the quadrangle doing nothing. Some read, or play sport, most talk.

The reason for quads is so many teachers are out with Covid

3/ My youngest had 5 quads in one day. The remaining period they watched Matilda the Musical.

They told me about several kids in different years who have had 6 quads, every one outside, multiple times.

Tell me @AlboMP, how is this good for anyone? #Auspol

4/ My youngest is a year 7 who mostly gets As and is doing year 9 in some subjects, like maths. They *love* school!

But because so many teachers keep getting infected with #COVIDisAirborne, they're finding it really dispiriting to turn up only to sit outside.

5/ Both my kids love school, and both hate this whole situation. Kids are unruly bc quad usually only has one teacher. No one except them mask and we learned from the principal of a nearby school that principals aren't even allowed to recommend masks, let alone insist on them.

6/ So teachers, who were already short-staffed, are even more short staffed as a portion of them are constantly off sick. The ones that are there are overworked, taking classes they aren't qualified for, showing kids movies, or overseeing quads. @AlboMP

7/ As mentioned, my kids are bright, and they feel they are learning very little.

But how is this situation in any way helpful to kids who need help? How is a child who struggles with some subjects meant to improve if chunks of their time is spent in quads?

8/ I'm not blaming teachers, I'm blaming you @AlboMP @AustralianLabor for creating the situation.

You're not concerned with children's education, or the well being of children and their teachers, you're concerned with using school as babysitting so parents can go to work/shops.

9/ Then the other day a child both my kids mixed with came down with #CovidIsNotOver.

Both mine were masked, but with Mother's Day coming up, the knowledge you can be asymptomatic, and that we were going to be visiting a 76yo on Sunday, we thought we should play safe.

10/ The kids did RAT tests which both came up negative, but I know that some RATs don't pick up COVID, so to protect my 76yo Mother in Law, I took the kids off to get tested at the hospital drive through.

11/ Despite what it says on the NSW health website, the drive through testing in Cooma is permanently closed. A nuisance but that's okay, we mask up and go into the hospital.

Only to be told they don't test at all now in the hospital. #auspol #CovidIsNotOver

12/ We can have RAT tests, but given the number of people I've known recently who have definitely had COVID but the RATs rarely or didn't show they had it, what good is that?

Proper PCR testing needs to be in place, especially rurally. Cooma is being hammered!

Roll on to today, both my kids have symptoms and some of their friends have symptoms or actual COVID. My kids mask. But masks mostly work at protecting others and if no one else masks, while they are looking out for community, who is looking out for them? Not @AustralianLabor!

14/ I had a stroke 17 years ago. That's one of *many* pre-existing conditions that COVID can exacerbate.

So if my kids bring home COVID because schools aren't allowed to push for masks, then @AustralianLabor isn't looking out for me, nor many Australian parents and grandparents.

15/ What about doing your job and protecting the future of the Australian people? There's a ton of evidence that repeated infections are bad news, and every infection is a roll of the dice for long COVID and long-term or permanent disability or death.

16/ 3524 Australians have died of covid so far in 2023. That's 25 a day on average.

@AlboMP you've brought in restrictions on buying paracetamol because 50 people a year die from overdosing, and 230 end up in hospital.

But you won't push masking to save 175 lives a week.

17/ Why do the 1000s of lives lost to COVID so far this year matter less than the 50 who will be lost to paracetamol overdosing?

Does @AustralianLabor have a eugenics program in place to let the old and disabled die so they won't collect a pension?

Because that's how it feels.

18/18 Time to step up @AlboMP, stop choosing to let people die on your watch. Stop subjecting teachers and students to multiple infections without even trying to avoid the issue.

Start looking after the people @AustralianLabor signed up to care for. #Auspol #CovidIsNotOver

Bonus tweet! My youngest wants it known that they have 6 periods a day, at 50min each.

So a bad quad day is 5 hours outside, not counting food breaks, which are also outside.

And the teachers that are there are run ragged! And the kids are rowdy due to lack of routine/teachers.