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posted by martyb on Sunday August 09 2020, @12:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the freedumbs? dept.

Pupils who shared photos of packed corridor of maskless Georgia students suspended:

At least two high school students in Georgia have allegedly been suspended after sharing a video of school hallway crowded with largely maskless students, according to reports.

North Paulding High School in Dallas went viral after it reopened on Monday when two students shared photos of the school corridors with apparently no social distancing and barely any wearing masks.

Paulding County Schools Superintendent Brian Otott reportedly released a statement saying that the images were taken out of context, that masks were a personal choice for students and reopening was in line with Georgia Department of Education's health recommendations.

[...] "Students are in this hallway environment for just a brief period as they move to their next class. ... There is no question that the photo does not look good," Mr Otott said according to CNN.

"Wearing a mask is a personal choice, and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them."

Following the alleged suspension 15-year-old Hannah Watters who posted one of the photos and a video on Twitter told Buzzfeed News she received a five-day, out-of-school suspension for posting one photo and one video on Twitter.


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:50PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:50PM (#1033832)

    You literally have protesters on one side demanding that schools stay closed because "you can't be too safe", protesters on the other side demanding schools re-open because learning via cell phone is garbage, and administrators in the middle pulling what is left of their hair out because they know they are going to get clobbered no matter what they do.

    There are a pile of reasons they can't just mandate masks. Just off the top of my head (some might not apply as much to this situation):

    Some people may have genuine difficulty breathing through a mask, epically when it is 98 degrees and 100% humidity.
    Some people may have psychological issues regarding covering their face (Think of someone who was tied up, gaged, and beaten)
    Some people don't like sounding like Kenny from South Park when they talk.
    Masks do cost money.
    Since someone else brought it up, perhaps there are some religious issues about face coverings. (Yea, fuck them. And get that reference to an imaginary sky being out of the pledge too)
    Masks are only one small part in reducing the spread. Mandate masks, and people will be calling to mandate everything else.

    When talking to people, increasingly, the question is "have you had the virus yet?". The reality is that almost everyone is going to get this virus eventually.

    When I look at that photo, all I see are a bunch of people doing the best they can under the circumstances.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:35PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:35PM (#1033899)

    You're right that a lot of people are going to get this virus. However, a lot of people who are getting the virus including young and healthy people end up with long term effects. These can include lung damage, chronic fatigue, and even heart issues. This virus isn't going away but we can take steps to avoid people having severe health issues. At some point we'll have a vaccine for this virus. The vaccine won't be completely effective, but it will reduce the spread and likely result in less severe illness.

    We also know that lower viral doses reduce the chance of developing an infection and also reduce the severity of the illness if it develops. We can take logical steps to do this. They include physical distancing and wearing masks, both of which are effective. Windows can be opened in classrooms and ventilation can be improved to circulate in more outdoor air. Taking the students outside for class also reduces the spread of the virus because any breeze will readily dilute the virus in the outdoor air. We could also require that students be properly vaccinated and be vaccinated again with common vaccines like MMR if it's been several years since they've been vaccinated, because MMR may provide some protection against this virus. Also, evidence suggests that children under the age of 10 aren't very likely to spread the virus but older children can spread it as effectively as adults. These measures are likely more important for older children and college students. These won't totally stop the virus from spreading but should mitigate the most serious effects.

    People who have physical or psychological reasons why they can't wear a mask are able to obtain medical exemptions. Many schools provide students with masks to wear. The real issue is getting compliance from students. If a large number of the students voluntarily chose to wear masks, perhaps the remainder would comply out of peer pressure. The opposite may be taking place here, where students don't wear masks because nobody else is wearing them.

    As for administrators, they deserve no sympathy in this. My experience with one university's administration is that these decisions are made behind closed doors by a task force, but the membership on this committee is kept secret. The deliberations and reasoning for the decisions are also kept secret. There isn't really a way for students or faculty to contact this committee with their concerns. I have a negative view of this task force and their decisions because the severe lack of transparency makes me distrust them. If they were more transparent and engaged with the students and faculty, I believe people would be far more receptive. This is not atypical. You might point to boards of education, but public universities are usually governed by similar bodies, which are their board of regents. It hasn't made a difference. Administrators could try engaging with the public instead of hiding from them, but they haven't.

    • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:57PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:57PM (#1033977)

      Anyone trying to force other people to wear masks or get shots should be banished from the country. You are not Americans. You are cowardly authoritarians.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @09:41PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @09:41PM (#1034029)

        You would not mind, then, if I took a dump, (I have every right to take a dump) on your living room floor?

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @12:44AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @12:44AM (#1034109)

        How to enforce mask or vaccine mandates is something that ought to be open for discussion. However, requiring masks or vaccines to protect against dangerous diseases is not authoritarian. I'll just quote an article from reason.com [reason.com], which is a libertarian site:

        One could make a libertarian case for government mask mandates during a pandemic, on the grounds that no one has an inherent right to cough deadly pathogens on another person. But that theoretical case has to be weighed against the reality of policing in America, where cops frequently resort to petty and overaggressive enforcement.

        Your liberties do not extend to recklessly endangering others against their will. There is reasonable room for discussion about how to enforce mask and vaccine mandates. But you do not have the right to recklessly risk spreading dangerous diseases to other people.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @04:31AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @04:31AM (#1034192)

          Simpple line is: Your rights stop at the tip of my nose.

          Translate to you yell at any one over anything, but you can not assault them (punch in nose).
          In the case COVID, your rights stop when you to assault me. (give me COVID)

          That is what not wearing boils down to simply assault. Startign hauling them away.

          And Bike in South Dakota... Lock them all there - it is called quarantine for 14 days. Make it 21. To insure late spreading is caught too. Also will boost local the economy for a 3 week period from the current 1 week dash-and-go. If locals have to suffer, then at least get them all paid for their suffering.

      • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday August 12 2020, @06:19PM

        by tangomargarine (667) on Wednesday August 12 2020, @06:19PM (#1035689)

        Anyone trying to force other people to wear masks or get shots

        Oh hey, somebody other than me made the connection between how people think about Covid and Anti-Vaxxing!

        In both cases the people bitching about their freedoms and "government oppression" are fucking morons.

        --
        "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
  • (Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday August 10 2020, @12:17AM (1 child)

    by Opportunist (5545) on Monday August 10 2020, @12:17AM (#1034098)

    Some people may have genuine difficulty breathing through a mask, epically when it is 98 degrees and 100% humidity.

    Get a better mask. Seriously, I have limited lung functionality and I have zero problem with that thing.

    Some people may have psychological issues regarding covering their face (Think of someone who was tied up, gaged, and beaten)

    Get a shrink.

    Some people don't like sounding like Kenny from South Park when they talk.

    Get a life.

    Masks do cost money.

    Get a job.

    Since someone else brought it up, perhaps there are some religious issues about face coverings. (Yea, fuck them. And get that reference to an imaginary sky being out of the pledge too)

    Get a better god. The sentiments of your imaginary buddy don't matter when it comes to real problems.

    Masks are only one small part in reducing the spread. Mandate masks, and people will be calling to mandate everything else.

    Masks are a quite non-invasive way to considerably decrease the likelhood of spreading the disease. Care to point to anything that is remotely as effective with remotely as little of an impact on the quality of life? If so, mandate it!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @05:51AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @05:51AM (#1034226)

      It is hilarious what the anti-maskers will pull out to defend their idiotic point of view.

      Trump strikes again, makes idiots double down on being stupid.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @03:00PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @03:00PM (#1034336)

    Amazing. Every word of what you said was wrong after your first paragraph.

    There are a pile of reasons they can't just mandate masks. Just off the top of my head (some might not apply as much to this situation):

    Some people may have genuine difficulty breathing through a mask, epically when it is 98 degrees and 100% humidity.
    Some people may have psychological issues regarding covering their face (Think of someone who was tied up, gaged, and beaten)
    Some people don't like sounding like Kenny from South Park when they talk.
    Masks do cost money.
    Since someone else brought it up, perhaps there are some religious issues about face coverings. (Yea, fuck them. And get that reference to an imaginary sky being out of the pledge too)
    Masks are only one small part in reducing the spread. Mandate masks, and people will be calling to mandate everything else.

    Yeah, none of them apply. They are all hypothetical reasons seeking a problem. One can always afford accommodations to be made to the tiny percentage of people who have a legitimate need interfering with mask wearing. (In the case of schools, permit online instruction for people with documented and legitimate needs.) That there may be exceptions does not make a mandate illegitimate or wrong.

    Masks are not, "one small part in reducing the spread." They are a major component of how to reduce the spread of a primarily droplet-spread disease.

    When talking to people, increasingly, the question is "have you had the virus yet?". The reality is that almost everyone is going to get this virus eventually.

    Almost certainly false. You do realize that as of today-ish there have been 20M cases worldwide against a population of 7.8B? That's about 0.26%. (Not 26%. A quarter of one percent.) Even assuming half of all cases are asymptomatic unconfirmed, and double that number again because of testing limitations, and you come out with less than 1% of population.

    By contrast, the 1918 Influenza pandemic is estimated to have infected "only" a third of the world's population.

    My point isn't that the virus should be of no concern, quite the opposite. Rather, that even a very severe pandemic will only affect a minority of a population. It just sucks when it's your relative that is that 1 (or 2, or 5) in 100 who ends up dying from it.