Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Peabody, Florida: amusement park, hotels, house)

[id77]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

This needs to be done at the Federal level. (Fat chance of that happening until January.) Temporarily extend the "reasonable accommodations" requirement of ADA. Extend the FMLA to cover at least unpaid time off without fear of being fired for this issue. The high risk people with public facing jobs are temporarily classified as "disabled" and eligible for SSDI. You can't achieve this at the state level.

This isn't going to happen, so it's not an option. The current administration has made it crystal clear they're opposed to this sort of thing. You yourself said fat chance. It's not an answer if it has a 0% chance of happening in 2020.

And, even if this does happen in 2021 (also fat chance, to be realistic), it's not sustainable. SSDI for tens of millions of Americans? If we had an ideal budgetary situation, this might be possible, but we've already slashed our economic wrists to get this far; this would have economic consequences we would not recover from.

So, let's be realistic...what's the path forward?

[Bridge781]

And if it’s not ok to open schools this fall after closing them all spring because of at risks groups then when will it ever be ok to open them?

[Bridge781]

I think the path forward is we need to open schools. Those who want to attend can. Teachers will have to quit or be fired if they don’t show up. They can be replaced. Do you think nurses and cops and doctors are able to just not show up to work now? They’re going.

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

I don’t think FMLA would work here. There’s always going to be the heros who don’t take it make those who do take it look bad.

I honestly can make it work while working from home. I just feel angry for the people having to make huge sacrifices to their lives by quitting a job.

FMLA isn't about you. It's about teachers and other staff people who will be forced to work and put themselves and their families at risk in a school so you don't have to sacrifice financially or professionally for your children.



I feel for parents. I really do. But the ones who seem to be complaining the loudest are the ones who can absolutely, positively figure out how to make homeschooling work for their families. We need to figure out what to do for children of front line workers or single parents. I'm less concerned about middle and upper class workers who can work from home, give up their housing upgrades for a few years, or otherwise cut back. They can make it work. They just don't want to.

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

I think the path forward is we need to open schools. Those who want to attend can. Teachers will have to quit or be fired if they don’t show up. They can be replaced. Do you think nurses and cops and doctors are able to just not show up to work now? They’re going.

Nurses, cops, and doctors are very well compensated. Nurses and doctors have PPE.


Teachers in Massachusetts average $63,297 - not counting the money out of their own pockets for supplies, further training, and now, PPE. That gets you a room in a 3 bed/1 bath apartment with roommates.

[Bridge781]

I’m also less concerned about the rich people who seem to be thriving in this current situation. They are not the issue and isn’t helpful to hear from them on how they are making this work well. They are in the minority along with the at risk group of people who would suffer if they get corona.

As usual it’s the middle class families who are negatively affected by this.

[Bridge781]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

Nurses, cops, and doctors are very well compensated. Nurses and doctors have PPE.


Teachers in Massachusetts average $63,297 - not counting the money out of their own pockets for supplies, further training, and now, PPE. That gets you a room in a 3 bed/1 bath apartment with roommates.

Nurses cops and drs are also more at risk of getting corona than teachers. Especially if schools are kept closed and the teachers don’t have to go to work. Lol. Or what about a receptionist working in a drs office ? They are still going in....

[mdovell]

At this point I think the better mitigation is ppe's and trying to accomodate the physical with the virtual. Get the state contracts onboard for av equipment. You have a mic? A camera? good lighting? Ok now we can have meetings. I'd hate to say it but sometimes people just didn't adapt to the internet. I can understand not having a smart phone if you are homebound but now with tablet and smart tv's it's a bit hard argue against it.

It was at MGM this past weekend. It still exists but there's generally less. Slot machines, video poker and roulette. Some card games. Some restaurants still open. No free coffee and soda, that's replaced with sanitizer and soap with sinks. They deal with the physical that is people come in and play. OK fine. But there's many places that cannot really accommodate. You get your small stores that can't have more than one customer in. Ok fine we work on having online market places, pick up and delivery.

I went to five below this weekend. Total #%@^ show. They didn't count the people coming in and it was like nothing changed for the most part. I wouldn't feel comfortable going back if it was the same way. At least supermarkets clean things and try to count the number inside.


"I think the path forward is we need to open schools. Those who want to attend can. Teachers will have to quit or be fired if they don’t show up. They can be replaced."

Show up? see my other post. Can they be replaced? Sure but the process takes too long. I have a few licenses myself. If you majored in the subject you should be able to pass but it's about 3 or so basic tests and then the subject. Teach early or special ed? That's another four or so tests. Good luck with that. 25% of teachers have preexisting conditions per Kaiser. You cannot terminate due to a protected class like that *especially* in a unionized environment. I'm not even pro union but I know if you go over their heads they'll run fire and brimstone. If we can't get thousands of people in a sports stadium how much sense does it make to have a school system with the same numbers and do so in a school building that has as of yet to be modified.

Look up the Central Register. It's where ALL the public bids for public buildings are listed. The archive is free
https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/35812

Show me the school systems that show COVID related bids for HVAC and sanitation? . I don't mean mentioning covid. I mean hiring an engineer to actually retrofit and modify the systems to provide for better sanitation.

I've only seen one from Yarmouth dealing with creating a plan. I'm sorry but many towns just don't have the expertise and rely too much from local volunteers to string things together. They mean well but in order to be on those boards and committees you have to live there and that acts like a residency requirement in everything but name.
https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/bit...=1&isAllowed=y

The state says that the schools have to create their own plans and yet there's no bidding for them. Uh....

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by mdovell

At this point I think the better mitigation is ppe's and trying to accomodate the physical with the virtual. Get the state contracts onboard for av equipment. You have a mic? A camera? good lighting? Ok now we can have meetings. I'd hate to say it but sometimes people just didn't adapt to the internet. I can understand not having a smart phone if you are homebound but now with tablet and smart tv's it's a bit hard argue against it.

You have to have employer buy-in on something like this.

I've been remote now for almost four months. I've maybe had five days in the office since, mostly to let vendors into the building.

I'm in IT, and am penciled in for an onsite training with another department Wednesday and Thursday. They are flying some consultant in from out of the area. One of the internal staff members' (who is expected to be at this meeting) husband tested positive this weekend. She's awaiting her test result. All these people are working onsite now. I have no idea what the distancing in the cubes is like.

The expectation is that the training still be in person, even with one of the key stakeholders' husband testing positive. I get that training especially is not as helpful via Zoom, but doing a large event like this onsite is just borderline reckless right now.

[bohemka]

Good effing grief, Bridge781. Go for a walk and get some fresh air. You're spouting absolute selfish nonsense.