Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

[hatmoza]

SvennoJ said:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/massive-outbreaks-in-israeli-schools-a-cautionary-tale-for-canada-1.5062834

When Israel opened its schools May 17 after just two months in pandemic lockdown, it seemed the novel coronavirus had been brought under control. But the confidence was temporary and the results were disastrous. The experience of the tiny Middle Eastern nation is serving as a “cautionary tale” for Canadian provinces and school boards ramping up plans for a return to school in September. New cases among Israel’s nine million people had dropped from more than 750 a day in the early spring to low double digits in May.

After a couple of weeks of small groups of students returning to school, the day everyone was invited back without any class size restrictions, there were just 10 confirmed cases in the country. Leaders had shifted from talking about staying home to getting people back to work. In just 10 days, an outbreak was underway at a Jerusalem high school and soon it was joined by dozens of others. Eventually, hundreds of schools were closed and tens of thousands of students and teachers were in mandatory quarantine.


This is the worst part, we're going to do the exact same for school re-openings:

It’s not like Israeli leaders didn’t impose some restrictions on schools. It required masks for students in Grade 4 and above, said windows had to be kept open, handwashing should be frequent, and students kept two metres apart wherever possible. All of that sounds much like what Canadian provinces are mandating or recommending. Provincial plans are being finalized, but at this point, no province has committed to cutting the size of classes to accommodate physical distancing, but are recommending students be spaced out as much as possible.

Back in Israel, while guidelines were put in place, execution was not universal. And when a heat wave hit an already very hot nation, the government nullified the mask rule for four days and many schools shut the windows to let air conditioning do its work.

Which is what will happen here when fall comes around and temperatures quickly drop. Minus no masks, yet those won't be on during the two lunch breaks anyway. Full classes, closed windows and central air are the problem.

I'm a university instructor and a highschool teacher in the United Arab Emirates and they are planning on reopening the schools on August 30th. Let's just say I've always wanted to use Israel's case as a discussion point to why we should not rush students back to school, but unfortunately my opinion would quickly be spun and misunderstood since Israel is a taboo subject here.

I find it quite ironic that just yesterday, UAE and Israel reached peace agreements for the first time in history. So maybe now I can talk about it!

Back to the subject, while the UAE government seems hellbent on reopening schools, a survey sent out to parents here last week shows majority want to continue distance learning. I hope distance teaching does continue and I believe the government will most likely postpone reopening. UAE has had a choke hold on corona since March. And our daily case numbers are incredibly low, especially deaths. It all has to do with how strict they were with measurements. I remember i got pulled over for not wearing a facemask mid March. We had 8 PM curfew, heavy fines, etc. They eased lately with more realistic restrictions (you can drive without a mask if alone or with family) but honestly, because the people here followed the rules, we didn't suffer as bad as other countries. I'd honestly argue that UAE is one of the top countries in handling the pandemic.

As an American, I'm actually glad I'm not in America during this pandemic.