*

*
Mammoth Springs

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Serves you right to suffer

"There is risk in everything." Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

I am not a parent so maybe I am not qualified to comment on the matter. Still I think the push to damn the torpedoes and open the schools seems downright ridiculous if not homicidal. Just read that nearly one third of Florida's children have tested positive for the Covid 19 disease.
Of the 54,022 people under the age of 18 who have been tested for COVID-19 in Florida, 16,797 of them, or roughly 31%, have tested positive, data released Friday shows. In comparison, roughly 11% of everyone in the state who has been tested for the virus — roughly 2.8 million people — has tested positive.
In Florida, 213 children have been hospitalized for the virus and four of them have died. Those aged 15-17 make up the highest percentage of those hospitalized, at 29%, while those aged 10-14 ranked second at 26%, according to the state’s health department data. 
This saddens me. Maybe their mortality rate is lower but nobody knows what the long term health implications are for them if they do get sick. What kind of damage will their lungs and kidneys suffer, what sort of quality of life can they look forward to? And we don't know how they might transfer the disease to their teachers either. In Israel, they say they made a big mistake opening up the schools too early.
On June 3, two weeks after schools opened, more than 244 students and staff were found to test positive for COVID-19.According to the education ministry, 2,026 students, teachers, and staff have contracted COVID-19, and 28,147 are in quarantine due to possible contagion.Just in the first two weeks of July, 393 kindergartens and schools open for summer programs have been shuttered due to cases of COVID-19.
I think that it is proper at times for adults to take some risks and show some courage. I don't think that is something you foist on children, turning them into lab rats or guinea pig test subjects against a contagion with so many unknown qualities. And the attitude of the Orange Country School Board, recommending that they open fully with no masks or social distancing seems downright creepy if not homicidal.

But I'm not a parent, what do I know?

*
My county Supervisor Jim Desmond is Mr. Gung Ho open it up, business, business, business . I get a video from him every day. He gets wackjobs like Dr. Scott Atlas or Dr. Kelly Victory to ply their little line of bullshit for him, nothing to see here folks. And one thing you hear over and over is that the risk of dying is very low for "normal" people.

But if you are fat, diabetic, immunosuppressed, hypertense or asthmatic and you contract the contagion there seems to be an unsaid, underlying theme to their message, you probably had it coming. God help you. Should have taken better care of yourself, sayonara.  I sense a feeling on the part of many that if you are not a perfect physical specimen, your death shouldn't really count.

*
Fallbrook is climbing rapidly in the confirmed cases category, 197 203 211 232 now. But hey, with your young and perfect body, I am sure that you don't have anything to worry about.

2 comments:

Ken Seals said...

Your first and second paragraphs are contradictory.

Is is 30% of all children or are children 30% of the positive tests?

Blue Heron said...

It is a quote Ken. I suggest you contact the author for clarification. It looks to me like 31% under 18.