Day 23-LA County Dept. of public health mandates indoor masking and OUTDOOR masking at large events
At Egg Plantation this morning…
9/6/21. Tuesday
On 5/19/21, an unvaccinated elementary school teacher experienced Covid symptoms, but continued to report to school over the next two days where she removed her mask in the classroom during story time. On 5/21/21, this dumb bitch finally got around to being tested for Covid and two days after that received a positive result for, what we find out later, was the Delta variant. Too late. By 5/23/21, 27 staff members, students, parents, and siblings were already infected. Does tenure still apply when extreme acts of stupidity are committed?
In a testament to Marin County’s Department of Public Health effectiveness, contact tracing began immediately with disturbing results. The students in this teacher’s class were MASKED while indoors, but unvaccinated because they were under the age of 12; HOWEVER, several of the students still contracted Covid even while wearing a mask. Oddly, “infection rate” is referred to as “attack rate” [how apropos!] in this CDC white paper and the contact tracing found that “the attack rate in the two rows seated closest to the teacher’s desk was 80% [8 of 10 students] and 28% [4 of 14 students] in the three back rows.”
So social distancing, to some extent, does seem to work as infection rates were much lower in the back of the classroom. BUT, what about masking? Although all of the students were adhering to masking requirements, 12 out of 24 students still contracted Covid. Does masking even work? I keep thinking about the two students in the two front rows who sat directly in the path of the Delta blasts but did NOT get sick. What’ was their secret? Special immunity? Were they wearing N-95s? It looks like it was probably hit and miss for the 4 students in the back, kind of like Agent Orange floating around and descending randomly on the kids. But those two students in the front…8 of their peers were mowed down, but not them…
Word to the wise…if you’re forced to attend an indoor meeting, seminar, TED talk, whatever [in almost all cases, ‘that could have been an email’] sit in the back…and wear a mask???
Does the reverse apply to teachers? Here’s a math/word problem for you: One Covid carrier [student] is sitting in the back of the classroom and lecture is 3 hours long. How many minutes will it take for the adjunct instructor to contract the Mu variant and die?
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800-8:30 – I’m up so I go downstairs and say good morning to the animal. She pooped in front of the door today (sigh). I rub her tummy three times, she grabs her toy, and we go outside. I water the jasmine while she goes potty and we return inside. Coffee for me; pieces of sliced cheese for her. I go upstairs.
8:30 – 8:45 -I call “Efrain”, the vendor who is repairing my patio chair and reupholstering my ottoman. The patio chair is done, but he has not started on the ottoman yet, although the fabric I selected has arrived. I arrange to pick up the patio chair this morning.
8:45-10:30 - Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. I listen to The Daily and What a Day.
I notice three strange blisters on the back of my thumb…I have no idea how they got there…
10:30–11:30 - B. arrives and we drive to Efrain’s studio to pick up the chair since it won’t fit in my car. The chair repair costs $65 when all Efrain did was stick a metal rod inside the chair leg and wrap the wicker around it. Had I been more creative or inventive, I could have done the same thing, but it never occurred to me to insert a metal pipe. Even PVC pipe would have worked. Live and learn.
11:30-12:30 – B. and I have breakfast at the Egg Plantation. I have the Vegetable Quiche, but regret my choice and wish I would have chosen one of their 100 omelets. It’s just…okay.
12:30-1:00 – B. and I return to my house and;
1:00-3:30 – talk politics outside, on the patio. It’s hot today, but sitting outside is still tolerable. B. leaves.
4:00-5:30 – I take a short nap; then
5:30-7:30 – eat the rest of my quiche while watching the last two episodes of White Lotus.
7:30-8:00 – I take the dog for a walk and listen to True Crime Garage.
8:00-8:30 – The toiletries I ordered from Walmart yesterday arrived today [that quickly?!] so I bring them inside, put everything away, and break down the boxes. I also start a load of laundry.
8:30-10:00 – Blog posts.
10:00-1:00 – My highschoolers finally have access to the Canvas shell and tomorrow is kind of like the first day of school all over again because they have to adjust to yet another platform as we transition to Canvas. I spend this time updating Canvas for my highschoolers. Because this class is SYNCHRONOUS, a Discussion Board prompt needs to be created every Wednesday and Friday morning, so I’m doing it in advance. I also adjust the due dates and times for approximately 30 assignments. I listen to more Labrynth.
I pay L. to clean my bathroom while I’m working because I don’t want to deal with it. She finishes in 2 hours and does a fantastic job!
-I take a break to hang my laundry.
1:00-1:30 – Kitchen duty and I fill the dog’s food and water dispensers.
1:30-2:30 – I need to work out, but I’m procrastinating. I read a Money Diary and then finally get it together and start the pain.
2:30-3:45 – I do a 15-minute Kathy Smith – Abs workout, followed by a 45-minute Insanity – Pure Cardio workout.
3:45 – 4:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed. I set my alarm for 7:30 because class starts for my highschoolers at 8:30.