Day 54-Governor Newsom reinstates the mask mandate in California

My class is quarantined……next week…

Governor Newsom announced that the indoor mask mandate he ordered 50+ days ago will expire next Tuesday. Individuals who are fully vaccinated in counties withOUT a mask mandate can go mask-free. I wish doctors would stop saying that masks are no longer necessary because we are no longer at risk for severe illness or death.  L. and I were the sickest we’ve ever been after we contracted Omicron and I’m still not completely over it. LA County’s mask mandate is still in play, even though Gov. Newsom’s mask mandate is set to expire. I don’t know when the LA County mask mandate will expire, but I can tell you this: today, LA County reported 4360 cases and 29 new deaths, bringing the total number of Covid cases in LA County since this mess started to 2,7131,409 and 29,457 deaths.   

Here’s a compare-and-contrast exercise. Florida had virtually no lock downs or mask mandates during most of the pandemic, while California did the opposite. Since California is about to go the way of Florida when our mask mandate expires, which state was more successful? To date, California has had approximately 85,000 deaths.  Florida, known for cooking the books, has had around 70,000 deaths. Additionally, a just-released John Hopkins study conducted by 3 researchers concluded there was minimal difference regarding the number of lives saved when comparing Covid lock downs and mask mandates to states that had none. Keep in mind that this was not a peer-review study and the researchers were economists, not epidemiologists. Hmmm…slaves to capitalism?  Of course the economists are going to say shelter-in-place and mask mandates don’t work.  

There’s around a 15,000 difference in deaths between California and Florida. If masking and continuously closing bars, restaurants, and schools [California] saves the life of at least one person, is this the most effective way to fight Covid? Or is burying your head in the sand, pretending there’s no pandemic, [Florida] and losing just 15,000 “souls” the best course of action? What if ONE of the 15,000 souls was your Mom, your Dad, Grandma or Grandpa…your child? You decide…

 2/7/22. Monday

6:00 – L. leaves for her 18-hour day at Otis

9:30-10:00 – I’m awake so I go downstairs to greet the animal. She went back to sleep after L. left and is sprawled on her back, napping. I sit next to her and rub her tummy until she’s ready to go outside. The dog grabs her tennis ball and we head to the patio.  I stand outside and survey my yard while she does her business. Return inside and turkey for her, coffee for me. I go upstairs.

10:00-11:00 – In accordance with my Curated Closet project, I try on more blouses and discard.

11:00-12:00 – Shower. Lotion. Full make-up. I put on a professional blouse and black pants. I listen to The Daily and Marketplace Morning Report.

12:00-1:00 – I review course content in Canvas for both classes and check email at College No. 1

1:00-2:30 –Driving. I grab all of my bags and leave. I still don’t have keys so I continue leaving early to ensure I’m at the classroom before the current instructor leaves so I can have access. I eat L.’s leftovers from the BBC while I’m en route and listen to Be Wealthy and Smart. I also listen to Best Laid Plans and What Next.

2:30-5:30 – There are only 4 people in the class!!  What the f—k am I doing here!  

Spoiler Alert: Out of the 20 students who are enrolled in my Core Class, only four students are in attendance at the brick-and mortar classroom and one of those students has Covid!!, infects us all, and forces us into quarantine for the next ten days. BUT, I won’t be advised of that fact until Saturday, 2/12/22, five days after the exposure and five days after I’ve (possibly) infected everyone with whom I’ve come in contact on Super Bowl Sunday. Of course, it’s one of the four students who keeps coming to the F2F class who exposed us to Covid.  Why couldn’t it have been one of the 16 students who attend online? Then, nobody would have been impacted… 

I realize, with horror, that I left my lecture notes aka “script” at home for my longest lecture of the semester! In 23 years, I have never forgotten my lecture notes and I can’t teach without them.  I chalk this up to “Long Covid brain fog”…it has to be, right? Since there are only 4 students in the F2F class, I log into Canvas and play my pre-recorded lecture along with the accompanying Google slides. Maybe after listening to the pre-recorded lecture, they’ll realize how convenient it would be to ATTEND THE ONLINE CLASS IN THE PRIVACY OF THEIR OWN HOME!!! It’s a surreal experience, listening to my own voice – that’s me talking – how weird! – give a pre-recorded lecture while I sit in the classroom, silently working on a blog post and advancing the slides.

-I take Attendance and email the students who failed to sign in on the Discussion Board.

-Halfway through the pre-recorded lecture, I send a check-in email to the online students and ask them to tell me the slide number they’re currently viewing. Only a handful of students respond, which means they’re not listening to the pre-recorded lecture.

-At the end of class, I send nasty emails to those students who failed to respond to my check-in email, and accuse them of “failing to actively participate.”

5:30-6:30 – Class dismissed. I open the Discussion Board and deploy course content for my 6:00 Specialty 1B Class and drive home. I listen to Happier.

6:30-9:00 – Home and I log into my Specialty 1B Class to see how the students are faring. A needy student keeps emailing question after question about stupid shit. Students frequently mistake email for texting and will send one question or comment after another, rapid-fire, while I dutifully respond, one after another. On occasion, this thread can extend upwards of 20 emails until I point out to the student that I’ve just received 10 emails from “you” in a 20-minute period and deem it excessive. All of this is so irritating.

-I take Attendance.

-I submit my Preference Form for Fall Semester 2022. 

This just in!! My Division Secretary notifies us that the College President issued a mandate that faculty’s course load must comprise 50% of F2F classes. This means that Dr. R, Retired Annuitant, who has ONLY taught online classes for the past FIVE YEARS and whom I spoke about in a previous blog post, must now report to the classroom. Ha ha ha ha ha LOL LOL!! And the adjunct who lives in San Francisco whom we never should have hired in the first place and has ONLY taught online classes for the past TWO years?  That MoFo is SOL, unless he wants to take the red eye and fly to College No. 1 to teach a F2F class once a week. Also, riddle me this, batman…what is 50% of a 3-class load? Isn’t the following a better mandate from our stupid College President?:  All Faculty must teach one or two F2F classes depending on their course load. 50%?! of a course load?  What does it even mean?  It’s just too confusing.  

I like to think in my own way I contributed to this policy change when I pushed back against my two colleagues and notified my Dept. Chair that a) Dr. R never completed the requisite Distance Education certification; and b) I have more seniority than San Francisco so why does he get all the online classes? Bluntly, why are two white males the only people in my Dept. who are allowed to teach Asynchronous Online classes consistently? One is older than sin and the other doesn’t even live in the community. Truthfully, though, I probably had nothing to do with the College President’s new mandate. 

-I send emails to all the students from Specialty Class 1B who scored low on the Video Quiz.

-I send an email to a student who did not sign in on the Discussion Board.

-I send a lengthy email to a student I had last semester for Specialty Class 1A.  She failed almost all of the Video Quizzes and submitted ONE SENTENCE for both Socratic Seminar papers.  ONE SENTENCE?  She squeaked by with a C, but that was because I screwed up the grading scale and didn’t weight the Socratic Seminar assignments as heavily as I did the Midterm and Final. Things are different this semester and I tell her we can’t have a repeat of her performance last semester.  If she pulls that stunt again, she’s getting an F in the class.

9:00-11:00 – I check email at College No. 2. The semester hasn’t started yet for this College and there are so many emails to wade through since I haven’t been checking regularly.

-I note that an email came in regarding a grade dispute from one of my students. I remember the situation vividly. The student was enrolled in Canvas but was not listed on College No. 2’s Final Semester Grade Roster.  As a result, I was unable to submit her grade, although I sent a follow-up email to Admissions and Records, notifying them of the issue and letting them know that the student got a B in the class.  I also provided the student’s attendance. Admissions and Records, of course, did nothing and posted an F to the student’s transcript and the student complained, as well she should. Thank God I had the foresight to cover myself!  I fill out a Change of Grade form, forward all of the supporting evidence to my Division Secretary, and include my previous email to Admissions and Records.

-My Canvas shell is finally posted for the highschool class I’m scheduled to teach in just one week, so I “course-copy” last semester’s coursework into this semester’s shell.

-I send a confirmation email to the Dual Enrollment Coordinator, confirming that I will attend their seminar in the coming days.

11:00-11:30 – L. returns and we talk about her day.

11:30-11:45 – I do a 15-minute Insanity Max-Ab workout; and

12:00-12:45 – a 30-minute Insanity Max – Tabata Strength workout. I’m spent the last two minutes of the workout and end early.

12:45-1:15 – In accordance with my Curated Closet project, I try on a few more items and discard.

1:15-1:45 – Nighttime routine. Bed.