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Pupils Who Shared Photos of Packed Corridor of Maskless Georgia Students Suspended

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

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

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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Original Submission

• Re:No good answer (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.

  Parent